Bandwidth Mgmt Technology Adoption Will Continue To Grow

Bandwidth management technologies will play a critical role in network operator efforts to squeeze more profit from broadband data services by replacing unlimited-use service packages with more sophisticated usage-based offerings, according to the latest report from Light Reading Insider, a paid research service of TechWeb’s Light Reading.

‘Bandwidth Bottleneck: Service Providers Tackle IP Throttling’ examines applications in the bandwidth management market, including bandwidth management technology differences and marketing strategies. It also explores the future of bandwidth management, including why the technology is necessary, challenges the market faces, vendor partnerships and acquisitions, and the future investment strategies that vendors are considering.

“The public has been prepared for the reality that bandwidth no longer is an all-you-can-eat commodity,” says Denise Culver, research analyst for Light Reading Insider. Service providers are realising they cannot keep up with the demand for bandwidth, while keeping the costs as low as possible for everyone. “Service providers no longer intend to maintain their strategy of, ‘If they build it, we’ll throw more bandwidth at it.’”

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P2P (or peer-to-peer) applications are one of the biggest reasons the need for bandwidth management has grown so much, Culver notes. She also explores many other reasons bandwidth management will continue to be important: “As service providers begin to charge increased rates for more bandwidth, the need for improved customer service and quality of experience increases dramatically,” Culver says. “Furthermore, service providers deploying triple-play solutions are struggling with supplying adequate video bandwidth for consumer broadcast video service.” Among other reasons, these will keep bandwidth management usage growing in the near future.

Key findings of the report include:

-- Service providers are now facing an issue in bandwidth management that they have not encountered before: how to tell customers they must pay more for tiered access to a service that was previously flat-rate.
-- Service providers agree that only 1 to 2 percent of their customer base needs bandwidth management today; however, this number is expected to increase significantly as usage of bandwidth-hogging applications grows beyond the early-adopter set.
-- One of the most obvious challenges the bandwidth management industry faces is the current regulatory and political climate surrounding the concept.
-- As service providers continue to educate the public about how their new bandwidth service offerings will look in the future, they will likely begin to change how they do business in the bandwidth world.