Delivering mobile content – emerging options for mobile operators
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There is not a major mobile operator in the world that is not looking for ways to drive down the cost of delivering mobile data traffic, and at the same time trying to work out the best ways to maximise revenue from that same data.
These mobile operators are being wooed by a broad range of equipment, software and service providers, all with very different approaches to mobile content management and monetisation:
- New service providers delivering an outsourced hub solution
- Technology solution vendors (including new players and established DPI/policy providers)
- Traditional CDN providers
New service providers: outsourced hub solutions
At one end of the scale Ericsson and Akamai have formed a new service provider joint venture which will provide Mobile Cloud Accelerator services (using an outsourced hub service provider model) to both mobile network operators and to content providers. They are pooling their respective knowledge bases of mobile network infrastructure and policy management, and CDN operation, to deliver an end-to-end solution which encompasses cacheing of content from subscribing content providers within the mobile operator’s network, and adding prioritisation at the RAN itself so that subscribing content providers’ traffic gets improved delivery through the access network.
Business model for Ericsson / Akamai Mobile Cloud Accelerator Solution
Ericsson works with mobile operators’ PCRF solutions to manage the content delivery, and Ericsson and Akamai also work to develop the ecosystem of content providers buying first class seats. Content from non-subscribing customers is not blocked or degraded, except that a small amount of bandwidth is reserved for the prioritised traffic.
The mobile operators gain the advantage of a better customer experience for the prioritised content, and payments from Akamai and Ericsson for the use of the prioritised bandwidth – at a premium over their normal revenue per bit. The content providers get to assure their customers’ quality of experience, and by working through a broker, are able to reduce the cost of trying to assure a high quality of service in many mobile networks worldwide.
Not all operators will want to cede control of their relationships with content providers to a third party, and many have been looking at two-sided telco models that would enable them to charge content providers directly. So technology vendors have emerged at the other end of the scale with solutions that enable mobile operators to take more direct control.
New Technology Solution Vendors...
One such player is Saguna. Saguna provides solutions designed to make delivery of over-the-top content more profitable for mobile operators by reducing the cost of delivery through intelligent caching of traffic close to the RAN.
Saguna’s CODS-MR devices are installed close to a mobile operator’s Internet gateways to cache popular or prioritised traffic coming into the mobile network. Meanwhile its CODS-AN devices are deployed close to base stations, where they also cache content and manage the delivery of that content, creating an application aware RAN.
Architecture for Saguna’s Application Aware RAN
DNS requests from mobile devices pass to the CODS-AN device, which delivers cached content directly. The CODS-AN devices operate as a grid, so that as a mobile customer moves from one cell to another, the devices pass content between one another to assure sustained content supply to the mobile device. The CODS-AN devices also enable capacity management in response to changing RF conditions, so delivery of the cached content does not swamp the RAN.
Saguna’s approach positions the network operator as the service provider - the mobile operator has the option of selling prioritised delivery to content providers. Indeed in January 2012 the company announced it is integrating its technology with Jet-Stream’s VideoExchange Content Delivery Network technology, a move which Saguna says opens up its platform, allowing operators to offer a full CDN service with a range of APIs and control functions available to content owners.
Saguna’s approach also promises reduced delivery costs. Saguna estimates that operators can achieve a return on investment within short order by virtue of reduced demand on mobile service centres, improved backhaul costs and Internet peering costs, and improved RF utilisation (achieved through TCP optimization).
Saguna is joined in this market space by Movik, and other start-ups such as Qwilt and Vasona Networks. Crucially, Saguna states its solutions are under active trial in telco networks.
...and established DPI/policy vendors
Another group of technology solution providers targeting this market are the DPI and policy vendors. For instance both of the biggest vendors of DPI platforms have solutions to serve this market.
Allot Communications provides a range of network solutions based around its Service Gateway and NetEnforcer systems, which use DPI and policy management to support:
- video acceleration and caching (to improve the delivery of content and cut backhaul costs by caching popular video traffic)
- the provision of subscriber and cell awareness and traffic management tools (so traffic can be managed on a per application, per subscriber, per cell, per service plan, and according to network conditions)
- and with smart charging solutions (which recognise the content being used by subscribers and making appropriate billing decisions related to that usage).
Sandvine meanwhile works with partner PeerApp. The two have pre-integrated the PeerApp solution for deployment with Sandvine’s Policy Traffic Switch (PTS) platform. PeerApp stores popular content on a cache locally in the service provider’s network, enabling content download four to ten times faster than content delivered from the Internet. PeerApp argues the approach can save 20 to 30% on transit link and circuit costs. Like Allot, Sandvine can also deliver quality of service to specific applications within the network and varied charging for different application types, and can also manage congestion at the cell site level. Its partners Mobixell, Ortiva and Vantrix can provide complementary media optimisation that takes advantage of the device awareness of the PTS platform.
The Allot and Sandvine approach is similar to the Saguna strategy in that it puts the operator very much in the driving seat, providing the tools to manage down content delivery costs, and the potential to charge the end user more for that content, or to charge the content provider more for the content, as it wishes. (It should be noted that Ericsson also has a strong line of business in this area with its GGSN, SASN and smart service router solutions, offering both integrated and standalone DPI and policy solutions to support managed delivery of content. Other major DPI vendors also active in this space include: Alcatel Lucent, Cisco, Comverse, Huawei, Juniper, Nokia Siemens Networks, Procera Networks, Radware and Tellabs).
Traditional CDN providers
Competition for the network operator centric approach of course also comes from suppliers providing over-the-top solutions – the traditional CDN providers. Edgecast for instance is very carrier focused, and has developed solutions for tailoring content to mobile devices. It is working with carriers in a number of ways, including providing them with access to its own global network, or helping them to build their own CDN on their own networks (to be managed by EdgeCast) or licensing them the technology to build and manage it themselves. This approach leaves it open to the carrier to decide how closely it wants to deploy the caching technology in relation to the RAN, and whether it wants to integrate this with other DPI, policy or network management solutions it may have deployed.
Implications for operators and service providers
Operators and service providers need to decide how much control they want over the process, and how much they are willing to invest to gain that control. The following chart summarises the various approaches:
| Outsourced service provider hub model | Technology solution deployment model | Classic CDN model | |
| Capex | Low – Capex incurred by hub provider | High | Low |
| Opex | Low – Opex incurred by hub provider | Medium – ongoing OPEX from running DPI and policy systems | A largely Opex centric model |
| Relationship with content providers | Low. No opportunity for direct content relationship | Yes – if two sided model pursued | Strong if the operator runs its own CDN, low if it does not sell to operators |
| Revenue generating opportunity | Yes – premium data revenues generated from hub service provider | Yes – if integrated charging solutions are put in place and regulations permit charging for prioritised content delivery | Yes if regulations permit charging for prioritised content delivery |
| RAN aware services | Yes – with the right provider | Yes – if the right solution is implemented | Not unless deployed in operator network and integrated with other RAN aware technologies |
| Integration with other network technologies | Yes – with the right provider | Yes | Low unless deployed in operator network and specifically integrated |
(This article does not attempt to list every player in this space, or to deal with them in-depth. Rather it aims to give a sense of the broad range of solutions now available from a wide variety of companies. Innovation Observatory analysts have written numerous reports on the topic of mobile traffic management and the solutions on offer. For support in this area, please email us at: enquiries@innovationobservatory.com)
Simon Sherrington, Founder, Innovation Observatory
sms@innovationobservatory.com
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