Swimming in the surging torrent of cable broadband upstream demand is no easy task.
Around every turn lurk threats to quality of service and consumer satisfaction: High traffic volumes can congest constrained upstream plant. Ingress, noise and other impairments can degrade performance. RF conditions reduce available channel capacity and limit the capabilities of DOCSIS 3.1 modems.
We’re here to say, we got you. In the same way that investments in downstream pipe are accommodating huge amounts of data at gigabit speeds, broadband providers can leverage advanced technologies to safeguard and maximize high value upstream plant. Working closely with CableLabs and Kyrio, OpenVault has led the way in creating Proactive Network Maintenance (PNM) and Profile Management Application (PMA) tools that provide a single, integrated way to ensure network reliability, resiliency and optimization.
Broadband’s upstream challenge is hardly a new one but today’s subscribers have ratcheted up expectations for throughput and Quality of Experience. Gaming, file sharing, video uploads and conferencing and more have driven a flood of usage and the need for unremitting peak performance.
Data collected by OpenVault network optimization solutions and published in our quarterly OpenVault Broadband Insights report shows just how hot the upstream is. Upstream usage growth rates are outpacing downstream growth by roughly a 2:1 margin; extreme power users of 5 TB or more per month are themselves often responsible for upwards of 1 TB or more of upstream consumption.
Accommodating that demand consistently and reliably requires new tools designed for DOCSIS 3.1 and higher technologies. Using the PNM and PMA elements within OpenVault’s Vantage suite, operators can maximize performance in the upstream by:
- Detecting ingress and other upstream issues before they escalate, enabling timely repairs that prevent broader upstream congestion and outages.
- Proactively resolving faults before impairments can impact subscribers, reducing service disruptions and maintaining network reliability.
- Correlating upstream impairments across devices such as modems and nodes, helping providers efficiently pinpoint the root cause of issues.
- Dynamically adjusting upstream profiles so that modems and nodes can operate with the best possible modulation and error correction for their current environments, increasing capacity by upwards of 40% without sacrificing reliability.
In actual deployments OpenVault’s OV PNM already yields operational cost savings of as much as 50% or more for our broadband provider customers, but the impact of OV PNM and OV Advanced PMA™ goes far beyond operational benefits. As many as 40% of respondents to an FCC study reported that slow internet connections reduced satisfaction in the overall internet experience; ensuring faster and more reliable upstream connections can help to eliminate that sore spot and can help to reduce subscriber churn.
As consumer demand for upstream bandwidth and expectations of service quality increase, PNM and PMA will be vital to the success of providers of all sizes. We encourage you to reach out to us at sales@openvault.com or at the NCTC Winter Educational Conference (Booth 101) next month to learn how our integrated OV PNM and OV Advanced PMA™ solutions can help you get your subscribers upstream safely.