Latency-sensitive applications require new approach to the network edge
Drivers like the growth of the internet of things and mobile gaming highlight the importance of network quality at the mobile edge. Users and devices reside at the edge, which means operators need to provide a high-quality, responsive network experience where applications are running.
Network latency is particularly noticeable at the edge. In the case of mobile gaming, for instance, lag and jitter can make or break the user experience; this has a direct correlation to operator opex in terms of customer service calls, and can result in customer churn. To give another example, a big benefit of the IoT is near real-time data analysis that can result in actionable insight. The lower the latency, the faster data can be turned into the insight needed to identify a potential failure in a piece of industrial equipment.
Vasona Networks specializes in providing solutions that ensure QoE at the edge. The company is rolling out a new tool geared toward IoT, enterprise and gaming applications. Edge Breakout, part of Vasona’s MEC SmartAIR Edge Services Platform, lets target apps use “real-time cell insight and traffic management capabilities to allow third-party applications to break out the traffic from its path near the edge and deliver it to a secure, local cloud.”
This is mobile edge computing in a nutshell. If the time it takes for traffic from a particular application to run out of a centralized cloud impacts the end user QoE, distribute the cloud compute and storage functionality out to the edge.
Vasona VP of Product and Marketing John Reister said, “The mobile edge is where new possibilities are brought to life…With innovative capabilities across IoT and now mobile gaming, Vasona is unlocking potential for new industries.”
Vasona is working with cloud streaming provider LiquidSky to demo a graphics-intensive, first-person gaming experience during the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. LiquidSky sells the Lightning Platform, which it describes as a “serverless, global edge compute cloud that hosts and streams high-performance workloads and applications on-demand.”
Nitesh Patel of Strategy Analytics said the potential of cellular-based low latency applications “remains untapped. Networks with the ability to recognize traffic from low latency applications and then redirect their path will be better placed to address these emerging use case and deliver and improved user experience.”
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