NPAW Enters Video Probe Market With Exclusive Nokia Agreement

NPAW, a global provider of analytics and multi-CDN solutions for online media companies, announced at IBC 2023 the upcoming integration of Nokia’s device probe into its portfolio of video analytics solutions. This integration, it says, will bolster NPAW’s ability to monitor end-user devices and improve video service quality for its customers.

Starting on Oct. 1, NPAW plans to introduce the NPAW Device Probe (NDP), a tool previously developed by Nokia for quality assurance, integration testing, troubleshooting, and production of video solutions.

Integrated into video end-user devices, the NDP continuously collects and stores data on decoded audio and video, user interactions, network traffic, power consumption, and more. When combined with NPAW’s player-based API, the NDP enhances the NPAW Suite’s last-mile tracking and provides valuable insights in real-time, enabling service providers to enhance the end-user experience.

NPAW says NDP is “a versatile tool that can be used for various applications, including active monitoring of connected video devices at a network, video, and audio level. Its key advantage lies not only in extracting data but also in actively generating relevant data, making it capable of validating content quality over live or video-on-demand platforms.

“Additionally, NDP has the capability to simulate adverse network conditions, ensuring comprehensive testing of network performance. These active features, along with on-screen interactions, network impairments, and device commands, distinguish NDP from passive analysis tools. Unlike tools that only gather data, NDP allows for the creation of customized indicators from multiple sources.

“Furthermore, NDP can be utilized across different devices such as set-top boxes, mobiles and PCs. By combining a hardware probe and a cloud-based software layer, NDP empowers service providers to automate processes such as QA testing and extract and analyze data in a tailored manner.”

“With NDP, we are taking a big leap forward in access network and end-device visibility,” said Víctor Carbonell, NPAW chief revenue officer and head of infrastructure. “Together with our existing partners who provide probe solutions in the content generation and distribution networks, we will offer unparalleled end-to-end monitoring that will change the way service providers monitor and improve their video service quality.”