SP Diagnostic service lets you check the availability of the URLs you assign to a channel for monitoring. I selected a number of streams from the NWC Radio site to diagnose. But because I had only one channel, I had to reassign it to different URLs and check them in one at a time. I wanted to focus on the monitoring service and measure the quality of an end user's streaming media experience, so I set the SP's distributed scanners--software modules that simulate both RealPlayer and Windows Media Player--to check 10 times a day and to alert me by e-mail if the streams were unavailable.
During 17 days of monitoring, SP's summary data for the public radio station showed that it had more than 90 percent availability and that it was delivered with an average bit rate of 15.3 Kbps. It also showed the average times to connect (1.2 seconds), buffer (2.6 seconds) and rebuffer (1.1 seconds).
I was able to reproduce most of these numbers from my home office using RealPlayer over a cable modem. Home scanners, connected to the Internet using broadband cable/DSL modems, provide a picture of streaming media presented to the end user in the last mile. Other Internet access through fixed or 3G wireless and satellite is marginal.
Measuring Quality
One metric you can use to determine stream quality is SP's StreamQ, a measure of your streaming media that's viewable from the Web site and delivered to you in a regular report. StreamQ takes the various measurements the scanners make during their 60-second media checks and assigns them grades ranging from A+ to F. Grades are based on the time spent waiting for a connection, including time for DNS resolution, metafile action and server/player handshakes; the initial buffering time for the player to receive the requisite bytes for initial playback; and the rebuffering time when bit rates fall below the encoded playback rate. The scanners also consider the stream's total playing time.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
