Bridge Technologies upgraded its Microbitrate analytics, integrated into the VB330, VB220, VB120 and NOMAD probes to identify bursty network behaviour in IP broadcast transmissions.
Bridge Technologies has upgraded its Microbitrate analytics tools, integrated into the VB330, VB220 and VB120 and NOMAD monitoring systems. This proprietary feature gives a particular type of insight into network performance, and can help broadcasters maintain a competitive Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) within their market.
Network traffic measurement instruments often rely on average metrics over one second to assess network performance. In reality though, a network is subject to very quick data transmissions, in which data packets are transmitted in rapid, oversized bursts. Although these constitute only momentary fluctuations, they have the potential to overflow the buffers of the network stack and undermine broadcast quality.
This means that a per-second readout of network performance may indicate that – on average – all components are operating within parameters, when the broadcast is actually subject to jitter and dropped packets. For instance, a network showing an average rate of four gigabits per second may experience microsecond-level peaks up to 25 gigabits. By addressing this issue at the microsecond level, engineers can use Bridge Technologies' Microbitrate feature to help pinpoint the exact moments and causes of microbursts, and facilitate immediate troubleshooting.
While the core functionality of Bridge Technologies’ Microbitrate analytics has been integrated into the IP probes for over six years, it undergoes continuous development with each new version release, in order to give in-depth visualisations of network traffic peaks and troughs. Now that users can customise the time increments at which measurements are taken, these broadcast probes are among the only ones on the market with the same level of detail and ease of presentation.
“The ability to monitor and analyse microbursts is a priority for providers dealing with IP transmissions,” said Simen Frostad, Chairman of Bridge Technologies. “With our version 6.3 release, we have further improved MicroBursting analytics so that users can maintain very high standards of distribution quality, deliver content error-free and optimise viewer experiences.” www.bridgetech.tv
