Alcatel-Lucent enhances and virtualizes content delivery to enable pay-TV providers to cope with the explosion of IP video traffic

PARIS, Sept. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris andNYSE: ALU) is to introduce new features to its Velocix Content Delivery Network (CDN) solution to enable pay-TV operators to better manage their networks and set a new standard for the customer experience of IP video services.

As operators cope with the ever-increasing amount of IP-based video traffic, the Velocix CDN offers a number of improvements which take advantage of innovations in virtualization, as well as tighter integration with IP infrastructure to accelerate the adoption of cloud networking for IP video services.

The Velocix Virtual CDN decouples the software that controls and routes traffic on a network from the physical infrastructure that provides compute and storage resources. This greatly reduces the time needed to install or expand the CDN. Virtualization also gives operators the agility to instantly create a new CDN cache in case of a hardware failure, minimizing any potential disruption in quality of service.

The Velocix Virtual CDN will use automatic resource allocation to create an 'elastic CDN' capable of adjusting capacity to both planned and unexpected changes in demand, for example during a popular sporting event or due to a viral video. After the peak, computing resource can be released for other applications.

The Velocix Virtual CDN joins the Alcatel-Lucent network functions virtualization (NFV) portfolio announced earlier this year to enable network automation and efficient use of resources for rapid scaling up and down of services. 

Additional features to the Velocix platform are also being announced, and include:

• Coupled with a brand new user interface and even more flexible reports, the world-class reporting capability of the Velocix CDN has been extended to give operators greater visibility of the traffic flowing through the network without increasing any additional latency or load. Patented Bell Labs techniques are used to measure the quality of video streamed to customers without the need for network probes or for installing software on customers' devices.
• Integration with the network routing control plane enables the CDN to learn automatically from changes in the IP infrastructure and optimize the cache selection accordingly. For example, when a new IP address is assigned to a user, the CDN adapts dynamically to make sure customers are always served from the optimal cache.
• The Velocix Universal Network Application Programming Interface (UNAPI) also enables unprecedented integration with external systems to develop customized applications for network configuration, content management and reporting.
• Velocix Proxy Language provides a powerful way to dynamically control how content is cached and processed. Using an industry standard programming language (LUA), a pay TV provider can modify how a request is treated depending, for example, on a user's location or device. This opens up a wealth of personalization opportunities to improve the customer experience or traffic management on the network. It also allows a service provider to bring the web traffic for their pay TV service onto the same CDN as the video traffic.

According to the research analysts SNL Kagan MRG, Alcatel-Lucent is the leading vendor of CDN equipment to pay TV operators and other network operators who offer over-the-top and multiscreen digital media content delivery services. The Velocix CDN solution is used by some of the largest operators in the world, including Telus, Oi and Time Warner Cable.

Quotes

Paul Larbey, head of Alcatel-Lucent's IP Video business: "Video represents the most traffic on a service provider's network. Applying the principles of virtualization to content delivery networks is about giving service providers greater control over that traffic and subsequently providing a better experience to customers. The latest enhancements to our Velocix CDN further extends Alcatel-Lucent's leading position in IP video and in cloud networking." 

About Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris andNYSE: ALU)

We are at the forefront of global communications, providing products and innovations in IP and cloud networking, as well as ultra-broadband fixed and wireless access to service providers and their customers, and to enterprises and institutions throughout the world. Underpinning us in driving the industrial transformation from voice telephony to high-speed digital delivery of data, video and information is Bell Labs, an integral part of the Group and one of the world's foremost technology research institutes, responsible for countless breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry. Our innovations have resulted in our Group being recognized by Thomson Reuters as a Top 100 Global Innovator, as well as being named by MIT Technology Review as amongst 2012's Top 50 "World's Most Innovative Companies". We have also been recognized for innovation in sustainability, being named Industry Group Leader in the Technology Hardware & Equipment sector in the 2013 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices review, for making global communications more sustainable, affordable and accessible, all in pursuit of the Group's mission to realize the potential of a connected world.

With revenues of Euro 14.4 billion in 2013, Alcatel-Lucent is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges (Euronext andNYSE: ALU). The company is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.

For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the Company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.

SOURCE Alcatel-Lucent

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