Greetings from Berlin and the Policy Control Conference, where we won the "Most Innovative Virtualised PCRF Solution" award.  This is a great honor, as it reflects demands for virtualized Policy to address the evolution of policy from traditional PCRF, and Cisco's leadership in this space.

Cisco's own Dez O'Connor from our Business Development organization spoke about how Policy is evolving to address the growing demands on the network from video.  His panel was titled "2018 prediction 79% of internet traffic will be video." Because consumers are using mobile networks to watch videos, networks today arerecognizing the need to provide an optimized user experience for each individual. At the same time, data plans have become more limited, with "all-you-can-eat" data plans becoming far less common.

As a result, consumers are becoming more aware of their data demands, and they are actively trying to ensure that they don't reach the 'ceiling' of the data plan.  For operators, that means that they need to give their consumers the tools to understand and apply controls to maximize their data usage. Dez discussed how Cisco is looking to embed that technology directly into the handsets as well as delivering the more traditional approaches of redirects, messaging and clients. At the same time, Cisco is working with the largest global video content providers and operators to deliver the tools necessary to enable new commercial models that can unleash the video consumption potential of subscribers. Cisco Policy Suite empowers the operators with the proper tools to support the growth of video on mobile networks and develop new business models for operators to capitalize upon.

Cisco Policy Suite's newest capabilities with dynamic orchestration for policy and access selection will directly support the increased video demands on the mobile network.  This recent innovation directly reflects why Cisco was awarded the Most Innovative Virtualized PCRF Solution award. In the area of dynamic orchestration, the NFV environment of Cisco Policy supports flexible, cost-effective, carrier-grade strategies.  At the same time, new access selection capabilities allow for consumers to have a better experience as they are trying to access the video of their choice. Consumers can avoid the issues that some users can experience today in mixed carrier Wi-Fi and macrocellular environments (such as poor connections and network "ping-pong"). Ultimately, it's best if the subscriber's experience moving between networks is managed by the operator via platforms such as Cisco Access Policy Server and leverages the capabilities of the device whilst not being beholden to device driven selections.  Learn more about these new capabilities at the Cisco Policy for Mobile page and the Cisco Access Policy server.

The impact of video on mobile networks is significant.  Both consumers and operators alike have opportunities to take control of their network, the experience, and monetization opportunities.  Cisco Policy Suite is well-positioned to help content providers, operators, and consumers to ensure the best subscriber experience for all.

Learn more about how Cisco Policy Suite can help operators with the mobile video on our website.

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