Content prepositioning and the end user experience
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 11:07.
I’ve just finished a white paper on content prepositioning and how mobile internet users stand to benefit from it. The fact is that whilst the current UK mobile 3G network can be very fast at up to 7.2Mbps, the reality is somewhat more humble
especially in areas of heavy usage. I’ve found on some occasions that to download a 1MB file via my own smart phone can take several minutes despite the supposed high speed 3G connection that is available. In other situations my mobile 3G laptop connection has excelled itself allowing me to remote desktop to servers and network devices in order to troubleshoot a sudden issue that may have arisen.One thing I’ve often noticed though is the time it can take to view streaming media especially in built up areas (e.g. central London) with many smart phone users all accessing rich content via the relatively small numbers of mobile phone base stations in the area considering the population density. Whilst these are adept at handling calls, the sheer number of smart phone users – in particular iPhone users – are overloading the network with their facebooking, youtubing, and mobile “app for everything ©” antics. It is at this point I feel I should declare my interests and note that whilst I do not own an iPhone I hold no grudges towards those trendy types who enjoy their slick media players with 100 000s of apps whilst drinking their mochachinos. But I digress...
The point is that due to the popularity of such devices and the reduction in the cost of mobile Internet, more and more people are getting online whilst away from the home / office. Many companies are waking up to this new market sector and realising the potential it has for profit through rich media paid-for content such as on demand music, television and films. Unfortunately to deliver this content to end users they have to use the existing 3G network which can suffer from high latency and contention, impacting the user experience.
Streaming media is everywhere these days with online news broadcasts, video casts, video clips making up a very large portion of internet traffic. If the server hosting this media is on a low bandwidth link or is lacking in processing power then the there can be massive quality issues as traffic to the server increases. Content prepositioning takes the strain from the host website servers and onto load balanced servers on high speed links to serve content as fast as possible. Content can be located geographically closer to the end user and also to be distributed by Wi-Fi for example rather than across the 3G network. This would significantly reduce the strain on the mobile networks whilst simultaneously improving the end user experience with faster, more responsive web content.
I strongly believe that 2010 will see an explosion in the amount of both paid for and free rich mobile content available and technologies such as content prepositioning will be key in ensuring the delivery of such content. Intergence is a highly skilled PS company and we have very wide range of skills which cover all aspects of networking and network optimisation. We can design and deploy bespoke content delivery mechanisms which use cutting edge hardware to ensure that users experience the very best possible experience with minimal delay whilst reducing operational costs to the business. Our solutions remove the load from the WAN, taking advantage of high speed, low cost LANs which can securely deliver the content via prepositioning and acceleration techniques.
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