With the consumer shift from viewing TV over multichannel subscription
video services to watching Internet video via a broadband or WiFi
connection, as well as the growing popularity of watching video across a
wide range of devices, today’s households are taxing metro residential
backhaul networks like never before. This was the focus of Ciena®
(NYSE: CIEN) -sponsored research conducted by ACG
Research. The study, “Forecast of Residential Fixed Broadband and
Subscription Video Requirements,” found that average household bandwidth
requirements are poised to increase by 31 percent annually over the next
five years—from a peak hour average usage per household of 2.9 Mbps in
2014 to 7.3 Mbps in 2018.
The study provides network planners information to help them precisely
model the impact of residential households’ increasing use of broadband
and subscription video services across varied devices on specific
network scenarios. It also reveals data about the transition from
broadcast service, which is multicast across the metro network, to
streaming video service, which is unicast and distributed to multiple
devices in each home, and the impact that shift is having on today’s
residential backhaul network. According to Ciena, service providers can
address this demand by offloading streaming video traffic to a high
performance packet-optical network by leveraging newly released
technologies such as the hybrid OTN/packet central switching capability
on Ciena’s 6500
Packet-Optical Platform or the dense 10GE handling capabilities of
Ciena’s 8700
Packetwave Platform to reduce network complexity and total cost of
ownership by up to 50 percent.
Key Findings:
-
OTT unicast video traffic is predicted to be 4.6 times greater than
traditional multicast traffic by 2018, according to the study. The
shift from viewing TV over multichannel video subscription services to
Internet video is a fundamental driver and accounts for the majority
of the bandwidth requirement for all device types.
-
Usage of Internet video, which includes smart TVs, is expected to grow
from 12% of overall peak average bandwidth in 2014 to 25% in 2018, a
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56%. The use of Internet video
represents the largest contributor to household bandwidth consumption
by 2018.
-
Other factors driving increasing bandwidth requirements include the
trend toward multiple Internet-enabled devices in a household
consuming content simultaneously; the use of Internet streaming
consoles, WiFi- enabled tablets and smartphones, which have the
highest device concurrency; the growing adoption of large screen TVs
and increased penetration of HDTV; and the emergence of ultra-high
definition 4K TV.
-
The research found that use of 4K streaming video services—which
consume three to four times more bandwidth than HDTV—will grow from 2%
in 2014 to 12% in 2018. 4K infrastructure is currently deployed in
many studios, as is 4K projection equipment in tens of thousands of
cinemas worldwide. This provides the basis for rapid consumer uptake
of 4K TV sets once consumer electronics companies can reduce the cost.
Consequently, 4K TV is likely to become a mainstream offering within
five years.
Executive Comments:
-
“The explosion of OTT / unicast service as well as the surging demand
for video content is pushing service providers to reassess their
existing infrastructure and take steps to enhance their metro network.
End-user expectation of a more ‘on-demand’ experience is a dramatic
change for networks and requires the underlying infrastructure to
evolve in order to give users the experience they expect.”
- Michael
Kennedy, principal analyst, ACG Research
Upcoming Events:
-
For more information about the study, please join a webinar at 11 am
EST, 8 am PST, 4 pm BST on December 2, 2014. To register click here.
-
At the MEF
GEN14 event taking place Nov. 17-20, Ciena’s Mitch Simcoe,
director of industry marketing and Michael Kennedy, principal analyst,
ACG Research, will share findings of this study on the panel Addressing
Exploding Over-The-Top Traffic Growth On Metro Networks With Carrier
Ethernet. For a list of other Ciena speaking sessions at this
event, click here.
About the study:
-
Ciena commissioned ACG to conduct the study, “Forecast of Residential
Fixed Broadband and Subscription Video Requirements,” to help identify
the impact of the shift of video consumption from a
broadcast/multicast to a streaming/unicast model on the residential
backhaul network.
-
The Ciena-ACG study is unique in that it projects bandwidth demand
using a metric that is directly applicable to residential backhaul
capacity planning (Average user Mbps in the busy period).
About Ciena
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is the network specialist. We collaborate with
customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks
and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena
leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and
distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with
its OPn architecture for next-generation networks. We enable
a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and
adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to
coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified,
virtualized environment. For updates on Ciena news, follow us on Twitter
@Ciena or on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/ciena.
Investors are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website
at www.ciena.com/investors,
where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news,
financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we
exclusively post material information to this website along with other
disclosure channels that we use.
Note to Ciena Investors
Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain
forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and
assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are
based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and
Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or
implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business,
which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-Q,
which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
September 9, 2014. Forward-looking statements include statements
regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies
regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such
as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend,"
"may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no
obligation to update the information included in this press release,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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