(Source: MARKETWIRE)IneoQuest Technologies, Inc., the global provider of advanced quality and service assurance solutions for digital video, today announced the availability of the first and only solutions for real-time monitoring, analyzing and reporting of the quality of streaming content to the Apple(R) iPhone(TM). Supporting Apple's unique HTTP Live Streaming protocol, the Cricket(TM) HLS probes and the IQSegVue iPhone application join IneoQuest's family of products for end-to-end monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities to help content providers and mobile network operators ensure quality performance of live or pre-recorded entertainment and efficiently manage the network.

Unlike traditional video delivery methods, Apple's new HTTP Live Streaming protocol requires video to the iPhone to be segmented into small clips and then downloaded in correct sequence, increasing the complexity and need for real-time video and transport monitoring. To assist providers looking to deliver quality content to the iPhone, IneoQuest has extended its award-winning Cricket(TM) probes and iPhone application knowledge to support this new protocol and enable complete visibility of traffic flows throughout the entire transport process.

Today, broadcasters and service providers are already using IneoQuest's Geminus(TM) and Cricket probes to monitor and test the MPEG transport stream for video quality issues. Now, Cricket HLS probes are available to act as a mirror to the subscriber's iPhone by monitoring the video transport stream across multiple locations, both regionally and nationally, after the HTTP segmentation and before and after subscriber distribution, capturing traditional and HTTP-transport metrics, such as HTTP-based file loss, bitrates and outages, as well as audio quality issues. The data about the video and transport stream before and after HTTP segmentation are delivered to IneoQuest's iVMS(TM) management system for integrated analysis and reporting, enabling providers to pinpoint the exact location of a failure and promptly troubleshoot before the subscriber is impacted.

Integrating the data gathered by the Geminus, Cricket and new Cricket HLS probes into IneoQuest's iVMS management system also enables providers to complete long-term performance analysis to understand locations, devices, channels or network inefficiencies that are impacting business. As a result, content providers can solve systematic failures and efficiently manage the network, improving their Quality of Service (QoS) and subscriber Quality of Experience (QoE).

For field troubleshooting, content providers can also leverage the IQSegVue to monitor the quality of streaming video at the delivery point.