Brix Networks announced today that it has added continual monitoring of video streams to its BrixVision Internet protocol television (IPTV) portfolio, enabling service providers to get real-time information on the customer experience.

The passive live monitoring capability is added to its active test capability, using inserted simulated network loads, and its integration into a Hwacom set-top box for Chungwa Telecom, for end-to-end monitoring, said John Burnham, vice president of marketing for Brix.

“It enables a service provider to see what the customer is experiencing in terms of channel change time, pixelation, etc.,” Burnham said. “We use in-network sources – appliance-based probes, software and embedded agents, standard interfaces – to passively monitor traffic in a way that doesn’t disturb it.”

BrixVision Live Monitoring provides that constant in-network visibility by monitoring traffic at network demarcation points such as head ends, regional hubs, and local video service offices.

The customer experience issue becomes a greater problem as IPTV networks seek to scale, he said, and telecom operators deploying IPTV need to carefully track performance data to make sure continually adding customers doesn’t degrade the overall experience for existing customers. When as little as 0.2% late packet arrival can yield an unviewable screen, keeping close tabs on network performance is critical, Burnham said.

“They need a combination of live and simulated traffic to do this,” he said.

Brix offers correlation of the constant live monitoring with the active, simulated tests through it BrixWorks software to deliver one source of information to service providers, Burnham said.

“A carrier doesn’t have to write scripts to tie together the different sources of information,” he said. “This helps them realize the open systems/standards of using IP in their back-office systems.”

Brix can help service providers monitor the service during its trial stages by deploying on-premise devices, Burnham added. When service is deployed commercially, Brix can integrate its verifier agent onto a set-top box as it did for Chungwa Telecom or it can use standard interfaces that don’t require separate software.