Over the last few years, telecommunication companies have developed a number of products, applications and services that have pushed the capabilities of mobile phones to new levels. However, the recent innovations seen in the mobile market have dramatically increased the expectations of today’s consumer. Customers now believe that their cell phones should be nearly as proficient and capable as their laptops or home computers.

One of the most sought after services in the mobile phone market is interactive video. Consumers are becoming increasingly captivated with a range of two-way video services, including video calling, video ringback, interactive voice and video response (IVVR), video conferencing and videomail. In fact, Cisco (News - Alert)¹  estimates that the mobile video growth rate will increase by 131 percent over the next five years. By 2013, more than 63 percent of the world’s mobile traffic will be broadcast through video.

The burgeoning demand for reliable, high-level interactive video presents a challenge for telecom equipment manufacturers (TEMs), as two-way video services have more inflexible requirements for delay and packet loss than one-way streaming services. To address this issue, a number of mobile service operations have deployed solutions that are based on 3G-324M standards.

Unfortunately, the majority of audio media gateways don’t support 3G-324M protocols, meaning operators are often forced to utilize dedicated 3G-324M video media gateways, which cost up to ten times the price per port of traditional gateways.

This common issue has led many service providers to consider an alternative solution where 3G-324M mobile access is deployed from directly inside the IP media server.

In a recent case study, RadiSys (News - Alert) Corporation, a leading provider of innovative hardware and software platforms for next generation IP-based wireless, wireline and video networks, outlined how its solutions benefited a Tier 1 TEM that was looking to offer its customers reliable, economical mobile video services.

After having RadiSys Corporation incorporate 3G-324M protocol processing into its Convedia Media Servers, the TEM reduced its equipment costs, lowered its support effort and eased its feature integration. Because the TEM was already using RadiSys’ IP media servers, the solution led to a 50 percent cost per port reduction.

“It’s no longer necessary to deploy traditional 3G-324M video gateways, because the RadiSys innovation delivers 3G-324M video functionality using economical voice media gateways and IP media servers,” said Peter Birkwood, Director of Product Management, RadiSys Media Server Business Unit.

Outside of lowering cost, the solution also lessened the TEM’s developmental efforts and curtailed unnecessary risk, as the company was not forced to make any architectural changes.

For more detailed information on how RadiSys’ solution benefited the TEM, check out the complete case study here. In addition, read RadiSys’ whitepaper on supplying next-generation mobile video services here.

¹ Source (News - Alert): http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/ collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/ white_paper_c11-520862.html, February, 2010.

Beecher Tuttle is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Beecher Tuttle