Netscout has announced at 5G World the availability of a service assurance visibility tool for IP multicast video over 4G/LTE mobile networks using enhanced Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS).

The nGeniusONE Service Assurance Platform and Adaptive Service Intelligence products offer dedicated service monitor for eMBMS services, to combat service issues when delivering live video over mobile IP networks. eMBMS allows mobile service providers to control the distribution of multimedia content to targeted audience areas, though as customer requirements for almost-perfect delivery have increased the necessity to identify service issues in real-time has become as important. Netscout claims the new offering answers this challenge.

“The delivery of IP multicast over 4G/LTE networks involves a very complex service delivery infrastructure,” said Bruce Kelley Jr, CTO at Netscout. “Service can be impacted at any of a number of key nodes as the video stream traverses the network, encoding platforms and distribution methods. Issues in any one of these key areas can adversely impact the quality of service experienced by the subscriber.

“To ensure a consistent measure of user experience, Netscout’s patented ASI technology provides unique key performance indicators (KPIs) for the service delivery elements and mechanism required for delivery of both eMBMS and next-generation adaptive video.”

Netscout claim the new product offers a top-down, service-centric perspective of networks, services, devices and subscribers into a single pane of glass. The single platform allows operators address the requirements of multiple operations groups, to reveal critical interactions and interdependencies that affect service performance.