Video overwhelms wireless networks in part due to the latency introduced during the process of loading video from the core network to wireless transmitters – the radio access network, or RAN. Qwilt has responded by applying its caching technology.
The company’s new Qwilt Mobile Video Fabric is a software defined networking (SDN)-based open caching and acceleration suite that enables dynamic caching of unmanaged and managed streams of video content.
The suite, based on Qwilt’s QwOS software, includes enhanced TCP-acceleration capabilities. It can be deployed either at a centralized (Gi/SGi) level or distributed (eNodeB) level.
Video is rapidly becoming the most dominant application in mobile networks, which were not architected to support the level of demand they’re seeing. The resulting problems include RAN congestion, buffer bloat, latency and packet loss in both RAN and mobile backhaul.
Qwilt VP of product marketing Dan Sahar said the process of loading OTT video onto a RAN can has a negative impact on the TCP stack, leading to latencies up to 50 ms. Use of the Qwilt Mobile Video Fabric can knock off 30 ms or more, he said.
“It’s open caching used as a GI-LAN interface with the network,” he explained.
The numbers are derived with experience with several carriers who have deployed the technology. Sahar would not identify the carriers, but noted the system is installed in North America, Latin America, “and we’ve begun our engagement process in Asia,” he said.
The company claimed the following benefits for the system:
- High performance software. Qwilt’s high performance software can run in a network function virtualization (NFV) environment on any platform as an open cache virtualized network function (VNF) or on dedicated COTS hardware platforms, providing a flexible solution for mobile video caching that can be deployed in various network locations based on operator requirements.
- Best-in-class caching efficiency. Based on caching technology that has been proven in networks worldwide, the Qwilt Mobile Video Fabric now extends Qwilt’s expertise in fixed-line caching to benefit mobile networks, a necessity in light of rapid proliferation of long-form, professionally produced content such as Netflix and Amazon in mobile networks.
- Any video format. Qwilt’s QB-Series Video Fabric Controller software is built to cache both video-on-demand (VOD) and live video content on mobile networks.
- TCP acceleration. Tuned specifically for radio network conditions, the Qwilt Mobile Video Fabric optimizes TCP for accurate and timely mobile video delivery.
By optimizing the TCP stack, Qwilt can improve the effective throughput rate by up to 35 percent, Sahar claimed.