Encryption eliminated nearly 60% of the video and audio optimization market in 2015, as revelations of internet spying and content vendors’ concern about quality drove the industry toward end-to-end encryption of data traffic, according to ABI Research.
The company also said the doubling of audio and video mobile broadband traffic within the past year signifies that the demand for mobile entertainment is showing no signs of slowing down.
"With encryption here to stay, operators need new tools to manage mobile broadband traffic," said Joe Hoffman, managing director and VP at ABI Research.
"We expect 85% of traffic to be encrypted. But that leaves 15% that can be optimized, and that is a significant network load,” said Hoffman.
He said that, in the months ahead, telecom operators and vendors face the challenge of coping with relentless demand for mobile data traffic without the proper tools to manage it.
This obstacle coupled with the increased use of difficult-to-manage protocols, such as UDP, and inflexible data services could hinder operators if they do not find ways to reboot their strategies.
ABI Research suggests affected parties take proactive steps and get in front of the IP traffic demand, sooner rather than later.
Leading infrastructure vendors, for instance — including Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia — all have traffic management solutions to keep network operations steady and next-generation solutions that perform with encrypted streaming media are coming on the market.