Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR) Video Traffic Management
Manage ABR video traffic with granular policy control and signature detection powered by machine learning.
Why Video Traffic Management Matters
Video traffic will account for 76% of all network traffic by 2025. Manage it intelligently to minimize network CapEx and OpEx, identify new services, increase average revenue per user (ARPU). With ABR video streaming, the client device selects the appropriate bit rate based on current network conditions and device capabilities.
How F5 Can Help
ABR video detection and control can save up to 71% of bandwidth.
F5 has tools to manage ABR video, making it easy, for example, to rate limit an uncontrolled 4K on-demand video (a 40 Mbps stream) to 1080p HD (a 7 Mbps stream).
Figure 1: Uncontrolled 4K (2160p) video stream averages 40 Mbps. Size downloaded = 174 MB
Figure 2: The same stream, rate limited to 1080p HD, averages 7 Mbps. Size downloaded = 50 MB, a savings of 71%
Explore F5 Solutions
Signature Detection and Classification
Detect and classify a wide range of applications with a traffic classification engine that can identify over 4,000 application signatures. Accurately identify video stream resolution and source—along with many other criteria—using a purpose-built machine learning algorithm.
Reduce Video Bandwidth While Maintaining QoE
A mobile phone user doesn’t need 1080p HD resolution (a 5 Mbps stream), so rate pace mobile phone traffic, for example, to a maximum of 720p HD. Rate pace OTT HD video flows to reduce bandwidth based on policies you create.
Simplify Subscriber Analysis
Create policies based on subscriber information—such as IP address and user name—to correlate them with application flows and apply granular policies per subscriber, application, or other criteria.
Differentiate Services for New Revenue Streams
Tailor services based on subscriber profiles to monetize services based on time, resolution, peak usage, or other options. For instance, rate limit video streams to manage peak congestion, or restrict HD streams for heavy video users after certain download thresholds.
Control TCP and UDP Traffic to Improve Service
Apply bandwidth control policies based on traffic classifications to both rate limit TCP video traffic and rate pace fast-growing Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) video traffic such as YouTube and Hulu. BIG-IP Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) makes it easy.
Simplify Traffic Data Analysis
Export detailed statistics and generate granular reports about subscriber and application flows. For instance, obtain data about activity at per-session and per-application levels, as well as event-driven, flow-based records.
