Yesterday , we introduced the top-level Cisco Connected Life User Experience (CLUE) Index findings. Today, we’ll focus on the “At Home” or residential services category of our CLUE research.

The At Home portion of the CLUE Index grew 7.56 points, from the baseline 100 index points value (based on 2008 global service adoption data) to 107.56 index (based on 2009 global service adoption data).  “That’s great, you may be saying, but what does this really mean, Webster, besides a fun field trip with index numbers?” you may be asking…and good question.  The bottom line is that for all the attention on the residential market, this segment demonstrated the smallest growth (compared to At Work [+14.17] and On the Move [+19.45]). As global consumers have collectively tightened their belts during the global economic recession, we believe this comparatively modest increase reflects residential consumers’ careful spending of their disposable household incomes. Here’s a graphic summary of residential services global growth:

We tracked global penetration of the following residential services as part of our CLUE research:

• Consumer instant messaging: fixed-line instant messaging for consumers
• Consumer VoIP: including both Internet VoIP (e.g., Skype), and dedicated VoIP subscriptions from a broadband service provider or an independent VoIP service provider (e.g., Vonage)
• Online gaming: games either downloaded from or played over the Internet, including Internet-connected console gaming
• Online music:  songs or music tracks downloaded from or streamed over the Internet
• Online video: video downloaded from or streamed over the Internet
• Social media: social networking (e.g., Facebook or MySpace) and blogging
• Next-generation TV: multichannel television including cable TV, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), satellite TV, and paid digital terrestrial TV.
• Time-delayed TV: personal video recorders (PVRs) or digital video recorders (DVRs) that allow recording of TV content to be viewed at a user’s discretion, using a next-generation TV service
• VoD: on-demand video programming that is streamed or downloaded through a TV set-top box, using a next-generation TV service

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Tags: advanced services, bandwidtch gauge, bandwidth calculator, CLUE, Connected Life, Connected Life User Experience, global internet data, research, service adoption, service delivery, Service Provider

As the winter solstice (December 21) approaches for the northern hemisphere, many of us are experiencing shorter days and longer nights (and that familiar chill in the air). But even in these conditions, anticipation is growing and a sense of excitement is upon us.  Sure, some are focused on the Holiday season…but for us at SP360, we’re focused on…wait for it…wait for it…advanced services adoption.

Today, we’re pleased to release an update to another one of our research platforms -- the Cisco Connected Life User Experience (or CLUE) Index. Focused on regional adoption of various network based services through a user’s Connected Life - At Home, At Work, or On the Move, the CLUE Index is an unweighted index, similar to a market capitalization stock index. In our methodology, services with the highest adoption relative to the addressable market have the highest values in the individual category indexes.   This shows us how fast services are growing relative to one another within a region or category, as well as  provides a comparative summary of how global regions rank relative to each other.

Last March, we established the baseline CLUE Index value (100 index points) for this research project (based on calendar year 2008 service adoption data from various independent analyst sources). The current report represents the first update to our baseline findings and describes the regional-level and service-level changes based on calendar year 2009 service adoption data. Here’s a summary of some of our top-level findings:

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Tags: advanced services, bandwidtch gauge, bandwidth calculator, CLUE, Connected Life, Connected Life User Experience, global internet data, research, service adoption, service delivery, Service Provider

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we covered the findings of the 2010 Cisco VNI Usage Study - but today is a little different.  Come on, I know you.  We’ve been together in this corner of the blogosphere for awhile now…and I know you’re already looking ahead to the weekend (as am I, my Zettabyte-loving buddies). So in that anticipatory spirit, I think it is fitting that this final post on this study be forward-looking as well.

True, I did say in the first post, that Cisco VNI Usage is focused on the current trends while the Cisco VNI Forecast is focused on the future traffic growth over the next half decade -- but these distinct research platforms are really more complementary than siloed.  That’s because we actually use the VNI Usage findings to help shape and refine the input assumptions for our VNI Forecast model.  Combined with ever-changing third-party subscription growth forecasts, VNI Usage guidance and validation helps us maintain the high level of credibility that our Forecast receives (per frequent and in-depth scrutiny from regulators and our customers).

Here are our main takeaways from the Cisco VNI team as we start to do advance work on the next revision of our Forecast:

When the two Cisco VNI research platforms are compared, there are several striking similarities:

The comparatively slight differences between VNI Usage results and VNI Forecast projections can be attributed to the source of the contributed  VNI Usage data (a random sampling of more than 20 global service providers), while the VNI Forecast effort is designed to be a comprehensive, worldwide model.  If we were to do a weighted average of providers based on the total number of broadband lines in their region, the VNI Usage numbers would likely be much higher as developed countries tend to consume more bandwidth than those countries with less developed infrastructure -- but regardless, we were quite pleased to see the independent efforts come out so closely.

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Tags: broadband subscriber, internet traffic, internet usage study, research, visual networking index, vni

So, in the previous two blog posts, here and here, we covered the following results of the 2010 Cisco VNI Usage Study:

• Q. How much broadband traffic global subscribers are generating?:
  A. 14.9 gigabytes per month, an increase of 31% from last year
• Q. What applications are global subscribers using to consume that bandwidth?:
  A. Online video applications account for 26% of total global IP traffic
• Q. When are global subscribers using network resources?:
  A. All the time, but especially during “Internet Prime Time” between 9pm and 1am (globally)

Now, let’s focus on Internet activity. How are people using the Internet and what sites are they visiting?

Here are a few takeaways that our VNI Usage study revealed:

• Over one-third of the top 50 sites by volume are video sites, the largest percentage of any category. This makes sense since online video is now the top application used on the network.  However, on that list, there is a high degree of diversity among the video sites in the top 50, including video viewed on gaming consoles, Internet TV, short-form user-generated video, commercial video downloads, and video distributed via content delivery networks (CDNs). So it’s not just about Youtube, Megavideo, and Facebook, but sites that are optimized for longer form content too.

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Tags: broadband subscriber, internet traffic, internet usage study, research, visual networking index, vni

As I discussed yesterday, the Cisco VNI Usage Study is able to help translate the theoretical to the real, showcasing actual data sourced from a representative sampling of SP networks worldwide. Because it is primary data, we’re able to parse the information a number of different ways - we can effectively slice and dice it like a Ginsu -- not just at a high level, but down to hourly granularity.  When reconciled with the many time zones this study covers, it provides some great insights into user behavior across multiple geographic regions.

For example:

• “Busy hour” traffic grew at a faster pace than average traffic, growing 41 percent since last year. Peak-hour Internet traffic is 72 percent higher than Internet traffic during an average hour. The ratio of the busy hour to the average hour increased from 1.59 to 1.72, globally.  So, if you are a network planner, it’s not enough just to plan for the basic growth forecast of -- you must account for the daily peaks as well.  Based on our findings, that means planning for an overall capacity nearly ¾ more than the top-line traffic growth estimates in order to prevent massive congestion during daily peak periods.
• Voice and video communications traffic is now six times higher than data communications traffic (email, instant messaging, instant messaging file transfer). Voice and video communications traffic (such as voice over IP [VoIP] and voice and video over instant messaging) has reached 2 percent of all traffic, up from less than 1 percent last year.  With new tools applications becoming available seemingly every day, from Cisco ūmi to the latest from Skype, this will continue to be a space to watch.
• Online video fluctuates more than file sharing traffic. Online video’s volatility (defined as the spread of traffic volume during the course of the day) is 51 percent higher than that of file sharing. The peak video hour is 91 percent higher than the average video hour, while the peak file sharing hour is 64 percent higher than the average file sharing hour.  So while the move to online video is good for providers to showcase the quality of their networks compared to P2P where the role and value they can deliver is limited, it does provide more challenges such as the need to accommodate greater volatility.

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Tags: broadband subscriber, internet traffic, internet usage study, research, visual networking index, vni