In the recent past, there has been a tremendous increase in video content generation and delivery accompanied with the demand for video content reaching new heights. The demand for video-on-demand and live video as well as video-centric applications is not just restricted to PC users anymore but increasingly becoming popular among mobile handset users. Wireless broadband access and sophisticate phones packed with high resolution screens, powerful processors are some of the major drivers for popularity of video-centric applications among mobile users. This trend has forced the mobile network and service providers to understand the limitations of current network and bring new technologies for delivering the video content to the end-user.

Clearly, the last mile wireless access technology remains the most critical part in determining the overall performance and end-user experience. Delivering high quality streaming and interactive video content over a diverse set of wireless access technologies (WiFi, WiMAX) opens up new challenges specific to the underlying access technology. Furthermore, supporting a broad spectrum of video-centric application such as Live video, VoD, Video Gaming, Conferencing, and Surveillance demands application-specific techniques that adapts to the underlying wireless networks.