WATERLOO, On. – June 7, 2013 – Avvasi Inc., the world’s only vendor of QoE-driven video management and monetization solutions today released a white paper prepared by Yankee Group, “Monetizing Mobile Video: MNOs Get Back in the Value Chain.” Although smartphone use in North America is estimated at 70 percent penetration, and mobile video viewing is consuming 50% of all mobile network bandwidth, mobile video is still delivered only through unmanaged, best-effort-only network agreements. Video programming from Apple, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and others that originates on the Internet must flow over-the-top (OTT) of mobile broadband networks from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, Telus and others in order to be played on mobile devices. Today, no additional revenue is created for mobile network operators (MNOs) beyond standard consumer data plans.

The white paper outlines how this complex relationship between MNOs and OTT content providers is changing, with many users willing to pay for video quality, for example. As relationships are evolving, business models for the monetization of mobile video are changing too. In addition to exploring relationship dynamics, the paper also highlights the critical steps necessary to accurately measure, plan and improve mobile video services in order to monetize video content.

“The explosive growth of OTT traffic is having an enormous impact on the mobile industry,” said Mate Prgin, president and CEO of Avvasi. “Mobile Network Operators are racing to provide bandwidth to support video use over mobile networks, but a critical component so often overlooked is the quality of a customer’s experience on their mobile device. Customers want quality of video, not just the capacity to view a video. MNOs who are able to guarantee a high quality experience for their customers will lead the industry in monetizing mobile video.”

To request information about Avvasi QoE management including a copy of the white paper, please visit www.avvasi.com/request/.

About Avvasi Inc.
Avvasi enables QoE-driven measurement, improvement and monetization of the video experience, and is the industry reference in mobile video QoE measurement and OTT video experience management. Avvasi provides operators with the tools to become Video Service Providers, enabling profitable participation in the value chain for mobile video delivery. Service providers around the globe are deploying Avvasi’s solutions to measure, improve and monetize mobile video in their networks. To learn how, visit avvasi.com.

For further information, please contact:
Jonathan Temerlies
Racepoint Group for Avvasi
202-349-0859
avvasi@racepointgroup.com

WATERLOO, On. – June 4, 2013 – Avvasi Inc., the world’s only vendor of QoE-driven video management and monetization solutions, is pleased to announce it has added a tier-1 US mobile network operator to its roll of customers. The provider is the latest carrier to deploy Avvasi’s solutions to measure its subscribers’ mobile video experience as it develops services that can monetize video traffic over its network.

For wireless carriers, understanding the subscriber’s video Quality of Experience (QoE) is key to enhancing users’ satisfaction and creating new revenue opportunities. Consistent with global trends, mobile service providers currently face significantly increased traffic from over-the-top (OTT) video providers like Netflix, YouTube and HBO go. OTT video currently generates over 50 percent of mobile internet traffic and is expected to increase to over 66 percent. This heavy demand results in fluctuating video quality on smartphones and tablets, and dissatisfied subscribers. Deploying Avvasi’s solutions provides network service providers with the industry’s leading capability to understand video usage and QoE per service, location, device, subscriber and more. Avvasi’s solutions also include traffic demographics and in-depth analysis of usage trends. This information is crucial to service providers who wish to optimize their video traffic, create service level agreements, implement charging and policy systems and build new services.

“Our new customer understands the unique challenges posed by the explosive growth of video OTT traffic. Avvasi was chosen because our solution allows them to remain a leader in customer video experience, and develop revenue-generating video services that are impossible without a clear understanding of what subscribers are experiencing on their screens,” said Mate Prgin, president and CEO of Avvasi. “We are proud to provide one of the world’s largest network operators with industry-leading technology to measure, improve and monetize mobile video.”

About Avvasi Inc.
Avvasi enables QoE-driven measurement, improvement and monetization of the video experience, and is the industry reference in mobile video QoE measurement and OTT video experience management. Avvasi provides operators with the tools to become Video Service Providers, enabling profitable participation in the value chain for mobile video delivery. Service providers around the globe are deploying Avvasi’s solutions to measure, improve and monetize mobile video in their networks. To learn how, visit avvasi.com.

For further information, please contact:
Jonathan Temerlies
Racepoint Group for Avvasi
202-349-0859
avvasi@racepointgroup.com
 

Avvasi’s selection in the two categories is recognition of its game-changing Q-SRVTM Video Service Gateway platform. Avvasi Q-SRVTM enables network operators to detect poor video experience in their network, per subscriber, device, location, and service and to improve the user experience in real-time while simultaneously increasing virtual network capacity. Additionally, Q-SRV helps rationalize and create SLAs for video quality, which is indispensable for video monetization.

Judges evaluated submissions based on technology innovation, financial impact, market validation and end-user customer experience.

“We are delighted to be shortlisted in two categories at the Telecoms.com LTE Awards,” said Mate Prgin, president and CEO of Avvasi. “Avvasi continues to prove that video must be managed as a separate service and that the keys for its monetization are the capacity to measure and manage it properly. Our unique technology is now deployed in several tier 1 commercial networks around the world and is helping to shape the future of video services offered by carriers.”

About Avvasi Inc.
Avvasi enables QoE-driven measurement, improvement and monetization of the video experience, and is the industry reference in mobile video QoE measurement and OTT video experience management. Avvasi provides operators with the tools to become Video Service Providers, enabling profitable participation in the value chain for mobile video delivery. Service providers around the globe are deploying Avvasi’s solutions to measure, improve and monetize mobile video in their networks. To learn how, visit avvasi.com.

For further information, please contact:
Jonathan Temerlies
Racepoint Group for Avvasi
202-349-0859
avvasi@racepointgroup.com

In its simplest terms optimization in the mobile network, basically deals with minimizing capex while maximizing the subscriber experience. Now, optimization can take different forms. The two I see the most are optimization solutions targeting improved network performance, like self-optimizing networks (SON), and those looking to improve the delivery of network content, specifically video. Even in these two areas companies have different approaches as to how they achieve optimization. Network optimization can be performed in the mobile core, at the access layer, or can involve software in the device. Network optimization can also be centralized or distributed. As for content optimization this can range from solutions that focus on traditional areas like compression, transcoding, or transrating all the way to managing the actual flow of content across the network.

As there are so many different ways that optimization can be implemented, it is no surprise that operators are not limiting themselves to just one vendor for optimization. In fact mobile operators appear to actually be implementing complementary solutions such as implementing both core and access network optimization at the same time. Because of the variety of ways that optimization can be implemented, and mobile operators’ willingness to use multiple suppliers, there is now a very robust of vendor options in the optimization space. Optimization suppliers range from the traditional big network equipment vendors all the way down to startups that specialize in optimization.

As you can imagine, as an analyst, I get the opportunity to talk with many of the companies in this space. Some are well known, while others are just pulling the curtain back on their operations. Here are four start-up specialist vendors I have talked with recently that I think others should know about as well.

Avvasi – Avvasi launched its Q-SRV in December of 2012. It builds upon Avvasi’s existing Q-VUE. Where Q-VUE gave mobile operators insight into their subscribers’ video quality of experience, the Q-SRV is a video service gateway that gives operators the capacity to shape and control the quality of experience. It can analyze the end user experience based on several factors including device, location, time-of-day, and service type. From there it can enact network policies in real time such as lowering a high-definition video stream to standard-definition to eliminate buffering. Mobile operators can also use Q-SRV to monetize over the top content by providing service level agreements to those content providers.

Movik – Movik brings together both RAN analytics and SON with its REACH solution. REACH stands for report, export, act, control, and HetNet. These are all things that Movik’s REACH does within the mobile network in real-time. One of the key highlights of REACH is that it works across multiple radio access technologies–3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi. The solution is also content aware, and can help in matching up the best access network to help ensure end-user quality of experience when viewing that content. REACH can either be sold as a traditional network element or as a cloud-based solution as cREACH.

Newfield Wireless – Newfield Wireless plays in the burgeoning mobile network optimization space. It’s TrueCall software collects and analyzes data gathered from the radio access network (RAN) and subscriber devices. This data can be used for network planning, network optimization, customer retention, and marketing. The information coming from TrueCall includes geographic data showing where network traffic originates, down to information at the end-user, and device levels. This geographic data makes TrueCall a valuable tool for operators looking to deploy small cells as it graphically shows traffic hotspots within the network.

Vasona Networks – In a general sense Vasona Networks plays in the content optimization space. But, it doesn’t do what one normally thinks about when it comes to content optimization. Vasona doesn’t do content transcoding, transrating, or compression. Instead the vendor does traffic management at the network edge. To be specific the company really sees itself as being in the edge application controller business. The vendor sells a software solution to mobile operators called SmartAIR1000 that can be installed on off-the-self computer hardware and is placed between the access and the core network. The SmartAIR1000 makes decisions on how to send traffic across the RAN to ensure end-user quality of experience based on data it takes from the network control plane, content awareness, and information on the current congestion level of the base station.

Like any market, overtime as optimization matures; there will be some consolidation of vendors. The most likely scenario will be with the larger equipment vendors purchasing the smaller optimization specialist. We already saw some of that with Cisco’s recent acquisition of Intucell. I am not suggesting the four above are next in line to get bought up by some larger network company. I do, however, think they all have interesting solutions for the challenges facing mobile operators and that they will all become more familiar names as time goes by.

Daryl Schoolar is Principal Analyst of Wireless Infrastructure for Ovum. Daryl’s research includes not only what infrastructure vendors are developing in those areas, but how mobile operators are deploying and using those wireless networking solutions. Contact him at daryl.schoolar@ovum.com and follow him at @DHSchoolar.

Waterloo, ONTARIO and Barcelona, SPAIN – February 25, 2013 – Avvasi Inc., the world’s only vendor of QoE-driven video management and monetization solutions, is pleased to announce Telus as the latest wireless service provider to select Avvasi’s Q-VUE™ video analytics to measure its subscribers’ mobile video experience as 3G, 4G and LTE video demand continues to grow.

Using Avvasi’s Q-VUE, Telus can now accurately monitor and measure video usage patterns on its mobile network. Consistent with global trends, Telus currently faces significantly increased traffic from over-the-top (OTT) video providers like Netflix, YouTube and HBO mobile. For all wireless providers, understanding the subscriber’s video Quality of Experience (QoE) is paramount for creating new revenue opportunities. Deploying Avvasi’s Q-VUE provides Telus with the industry’s best capability to understand video usage and QoE per service, location, device, subscriber and more. Avvasi’s Q-VUE also includes additional video analytics such as traffic demographics and in-depth analysis of usage trends. This information is crucial to service providers who wish to optimize their traffic, create service level agreements and build new services.

“In our relentless efforts to put customers first and continue exceeding their expectations, being able to measure and manage our customers’ video viewing experience has become critical,” said Jérôme Birot, Director, Technology Strategy, Telus. “Avvasi allows us to monitor video services in a quantifiable manner, putting the customer experience at the heart of our decision making process to better manage the delivery of videos on our wireless network.”

“Telus is an innovative leader in wireless telecommunications and as such has identified and understands the unique challenges posed by the explosive growth of OTT traffic. Avvasi’s Q-VUE allows Telus to know its customers’ QoE, and general network usage trends with respect to video,” said Mate Prgin, president and CEO of Avvasi. “With these new capabilities, we are proud to enable Telus to measure, improve and monetize the video experience.”

About Avvasi Inc.
Avvasi enables QOE-driven measurement, improvement and monetization of the video experience and is the industry reference in mobile video QOE measurement and OTT video experience management. Avvasi provides operators with the tools to become Video Service Providers, enabling profitable participation in the value chain for mobile video delivery. Service providers around the globe are deploying Avvasi’s solutions to measure, improve, and monetize mobile video in their networks. To learn how, visit avvasi.com.

Media Contact:
Liz Iannotti
Racepoint Group for Avvasi
(617) 624-3213
liannotti@racepointgroup.com

Waterloo, Ontario – December 10, 2012 – Avvasi Inc., the world’s only vendor of QoE driven video management and monetization solutions, today announced the launch of Avvasi Q-SRV^TM Video Service Gateway. This announcement signals the creation of a new market category, in which mobile network operators put their subscriber’s video Quality of Experience at the heart of the traffic management process. As video now represents more than half of mobile network traffic, operators need to manage it as a separate service. Avvasi’s Q-SRV builds on the success of its Q-VUE product, currently used by Tier 1 operators to measure video experience, by allowing them to actively manage and improve subscriber video experience for the first time.

“Mobile video now uses more than half of the available bandwidth on many mobile networks – between 50% and 85% depending on the carrier, location and type of service,” said Dimitris Mavrakis, Principal Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. “Quality of Experience is fast becoming a very important KPI for video in mobile networks. Active management of subscribers’ video QoE has the potential to become one of the next battlefields between competing operators. In the future, we believe that actively managing the video experience will be one of the biggest opportunities operators are presented with to monetize the 50% of service that is now essentially given away for free by carriers.”

Q-SRV has been designed for LTE and broadband networks. It enables network operators to detect poor video experience in their network, per subscriber, device, location, and service and to improve the user experience in real-time while simultaneously increasing virtual network capacity. Additionally, Q-SRV helps rationalize and create SLAs for video quality, which is indispensable for video monetization.

“Operators understand that they need to improve and manage their subscribers’ video experiences and create new revenues from exploding levels of mobile OTT video like YouTube and Netflix,” said Mate Prgin, President and CEO of Avvasi. “We have been very successful in helping our existing customers measure, improve and monetize OTT video with Q-SRV, and we are happy to extend today its unique, industry-first benefits to all operators concerned with improving and actively managing their video experience.”

Avvasi Q-SRV runs on Avvasi’s Xperium platform, a carrier-grade, ATCA-based chassis that provides industry leading scalability, flexibility and performance needed to help service providers monetize massive video traffic growth.

Avvasi will be showcasing Q-SRV at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona on February 25-28, 2013. To book a meeting to see how Q-SRV will help your organization please contact Avvasi’s marketing team directly at marketing@avvasi.com.

About Avvasi:
Avvasi enables QOE-driven measurement, improvement and monetization of the video experience and is the industry reference in mobile video QOE measurement and OTT video experience management. Avvasi provides operators with the tools to become Video Service Providers, enabling profitable participation in the value chain for mobile video delivery. Service providers around the globe are deploying Avvasi’s solutions to measure, improve, and monetize mobile video in their networks. To learn how, please visit http://www.avvasi.com.

Media Contact:
Liz Iannotti
Racepoint Group for Avvasi
liannotti@racepointgroup.com
617-624-3213

Waterloo, Ontario – November 14, 2012 – Avvasi Inc. the world’s only vendor of QoE driven video management and monetization solutions, is pleased to announce that it has been recognized by this year’s Fierce Innovation Awards, an operator-reviewed awards program from the publishers of FierceWireless, FierceTelecom and FierceCable. Avvasi received top honors in the category “OTT Service Innovation” as well as an overall award of “Best in Show: Most Productive.”

Winners were selected by an exclusive panel of carrier-only judges including Stephen Bye, CTO and VP of Technology Development & Strategy at Sprint (NYSE:S); Mattias Fridstrom, VP and Head of Technology at TeliaSonera International; Abhi Ingle, VP of Ecosystem and Innovation at AT&T (NYSE:T); Tom Nagel, SVP of Business Development & Strategy, for Communications & Data Services at Comcast Cable; Todd Smith, Director of Media Relations at Cox Communications; and Jim Wales, Executive Director of Networks at Verizon (NYSE:VZ).

Judges evaluated submissions based on technology innovation, financial impact, market validation and end-user customer experience.

“We are very honored to have been recognized by the leading wireless carrier judges for this year’s Fierce Innovation Awards for these truly outstanding achievements. Avvasi continues to prove that video must be managed as a service and that the keys for its monetization are the capacity to measure and manage it properly,” said Mate Prgin, President and CEO of Avvasi. “The judges of the Fierce Innovation Awards have recognized our leadership and our capacity to innovate in the mobile OTT video ecosystem. Our unique technology is now deployed in several tier 1 commercial networks and helps carriers improve their subscriber video experience.”

LONDON (BUSINESS WIRE)– November 7, 2012 — Avvasi Inc., the world’s only vendor of quality of experience (QoE) driven video management and monetization solutions, is pleased to announce it has been awarded the prestigious Broadband Traffic Management Award 2012. Selected from among the largest telecom equipment manufacturers in Mobile Broadband by a panel of independent industry analysts, Avvasi Q-VUE™ was recognized as the “Most Innovative Solution for Driving Real-Time Intelligence” in mobile broadband.

“We are pioneering new ways to help service providers gain unprecedented capabilities to enhance their subscribers’ video experience,” said Mate Prgin, President and CEO of Avvasi. “Being awarded the 2012 Broadband Traffic Management Award for innovation is a wonderful validation of Avvasi’s success in the market. We are looking forward to announce soon several tier 1 customer deployments as proof that network operators are relying increasingly on Avvasi’s ability to help them measure, improve and monetize OTT video.”

Come listen to Mate Prgin speak at BBTM 2012 about “Personalizing Real Time Data Plans to Deliver QoE to the End User” on November 8th at 12:30 p.m. at the Royal Garden Hotel.
 

Waterloo, ONTARIO –January 24, 2012 – Avvasi Inc., the award-winning leader in video traffic management and analytics solutions for fixed and mobile communication service providers (CSPs), is delighted to announce it has been selected as a finalist for a prestigious GSMA Global Mobile Award 2012. Over 600 nominations were filed and more than 170 independent analysts, journalists, academics and subject matter experts throughout the world participated in the judging of the 2012 awards. Avvasi has been shortlisted in the category of Best Mobile Broadband Technology for its Q-VUE analytics solution for the real-time measurement of video quality and usage trends of OTT video traffic. The winner will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 28 February, 2012.

Avvasi Q-VUE® is the only analytics solution to provide separate indicators that account for both network conditions of video delivery (such as the spinning hour glass), and the visual fidelity or presentation quality of the video content. Providing real-time subscriber analytics means these indicators can be integrated into service provider charging and policy systems, to enable powerful use cases for operations, marketing and services teams. OTT video generates approximately 50% of mobile and fixed internet traffic. This heavy bandwidth demand results in fluctuating video quality on smartphones and tablets, and dissatisfied subscribers.

Avvasi experienced a break-through year in 2011, launching new analytics solutions and signing new customers, including WIND Mobile. Avvasi is also a founding member of CONNEXUS, a new and disruptive ecosystem and architecture aimed at enabling service providers, content providers and advertisers to become part of a connected value chain to deliver high-quality monetized video to subscribers in a multi-screen mobile and fixed broadband environment.

“We are honored to be shortlisted for a coveted 2012 GSMA Global Mobile Award. To be in the company of a number of industry heavyweights is a fervent endorsement of our technology and market leadership,” said Mate Prgin, president and CEO of Avvasi. “This tribute brings a spotlight to the challenges and opportunities presented by Over-the-Top video services and the need for video traffic solutions such as ours.”

“Reflecting the intensity of competition and innovation across the mobile ecosystem, we saw a record 600 entries and an exceptionally high quality field of contenders vying for this year’s Global Mobile Awards,” said Michael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. “It is a significant achievement to have made the shortlist, and our warmest congratulations go to all the nominees announced today. We look forward to the unveiling of the winners at the Mobile World Congress next month.”

Waterloo, ONTARIO – December 19, 2011 – the award-winning leader in video traffic management and analytics solutions for fixed and mobile communication service providers (CSPs), has launched Q-VUE 2.1, its latest analytics solution for the real-time measurement of video quality and usage trends of OTT video traffic. Avvasi video analytics eclipse traditional deep packet inspection (DPI) based network analytics, offering highly detailed measurement capabilities that report subscriber usage demographics and video-based Quality of Experience (QoE). Avvasi’s proprietary and patent pending QoE indicators provide objective indicators that are highly correlated to the subjective quality experienced by the subscriber.

Q-VUE 2.1 is the only analytics solution to provide separate indicators that account for both network conditions of video delivery (such as the spinning hour glass), and the visual fidelity or presentation quality of the video content. Providing real-time subscriber analytics means these indicators can be integrated into service provider charging and policy systems, to enable powerful use cases for operations, marketing and services teams.

OTT video generates approximately 50% of mobile and fixed internet traffic.¹ This heavy bandwidth demand results in fluctuating video quality on smartphones and tablets, and dissatisfied subscribers.

As OTT video traffic continues to grow, experts agree that measuring OTT video quality is a requirement before any CSP can monetize these services and offset the cost of carrying this traffic on their networks. CSPs using Avvasi Q-VUE 2.1 to collect the detailed usage and quality information strive to understand new usage trends and are able to plan video-based revenue-generating services.

“Avvasi’s Q-VUE 2.1 is designed ground-up for the challenges of OTT video, and is battle-hardened.” said Mate Prgin, president and CEO of Avvasi. “Since its inaugural launch two years ago, Q-VUE is the culmination of tens of thousands of hours of monitoring enormous volumes of traffic, rigorous network testing and feedback from some of the most innovative CSPs, all of whom recognize that collecting in-depth analytics is crucial to their business.”

Service providers adopting Q-VUE 2.1 will benefit from a variety of unique capabilities, including:

• QoE measurement of adaptive streaming protocols such as HTTP Live Streaming (Apple streaming format), and Netflix
• Ability to independently monitor both delivery quality of video as well as presentation quality of video
• Improved scalability capable of monitoring multiple 10Gb/s links

 
A number of leading network providers are already using Q-VUE 2.1, with WIND Mobile the latest CSP to recognize the value of Avvasi OTT video analytics. Avvasi will be announcing further customers in 2012.