Author: Cam Cullen
May 7th, 2013 by Cam Cullen; Category: Products, Technology
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    Procera announced a brand-spanking new capability today called Dynamic LiveView that is dropping the jaws of network engineers around the world. It is a “WOW” moment when you see what it can show you in real-time about what is happening on your network.

    But, we often get asked the question – “Why do I need to see this in real-time?” Although the question is normally a plant from someone that does not offer a comparable capability, it is a very fair question, as sometimes providing too much information is just as bad as providing too little, or too late (all of which are common complaints by operators).

    Let’s take a look at one use case that we get asked about all the time by mobile operators that illustrates why we launched Dynamic LiveView.

    Use Case: A mobile operator has congestion on a specific portion of their RAN (it could be a cell tower, it could be a SGSN/GSSN, could be a region). They are seeing degraded Quality of Experience on that region with IP applications (let’s say Voice and/or Video applications since they would raise concerns if they were poor quality). The network engineer responsible for that region needs to find the root cause and determine if something can be done before customer complaints start coming into the Call Center. What he needs is a tool that helps him narrow down whether this is an application, site, service, device, security attack, or simply too much usage in that area. Wouldn’t it be nice if he could ask the network the following types of questions?

    1. What devices are active in that region?
    2. What applications are those specific devices running and how much bandwidth are they consuming?
    3. Is a specific device or application using too much bandwidth?
    4. Is a specific destination (Facebook, Google, a CDN, etc.) under heavy load?
    5. Is there a flood type attack (session, bandwidth, etc.) going on, and if so, what are the attack vectors (protocols, sites, applications, etc.)

    If he knew the answers to these questions in real-time, he could determine the root cause of the issue, and either configure a network policy or attack mitigation filter to reduce the network congestion, AND see if that made a difference in real-time.

    Below is an example result of such a query. We picked a specific RNC, and are displaying the network behavior by showing first the device types active on that RNC, then the applications that they are running, and then finally the sites that they are accessing with those applications. This is a very easy way to determine what is happening on that specific area of the network.

    RNCReportperDeviceApplications

    Another interesting use case would be an operator looking to understand what Google Services were being accessed on their Google peering links to see if one specific service was causing network congestion issues. In this scenario, the operator wants to understand the Google sites (i.e. subdomains) that are being accessed from their network, what kinds of sites they are (i.e. the category of those sites), and how those sites were being accessed. Below is the answer:

    Google

    As you can see from the screen capture, not only are we seeing the breakdown on Google Sites in real-time, but we can also distinguish how the customers are accessing these sites – including distinguishing secure access over SSL and SPDY in addition to the site being accessed. This is a powerful view, as it demonstrates that service offerings can include visibility into how services are being accessed when encryption and security are used.

    Dynamic LiveView is a real-time query capability within the existing PacketLogic solutions. No new hardware is needed, no cost for the access. Procera believes strongly that networks need to become smarter to deliver on the promise of Cloud Services, Bring Your Own Device, even Software Defined Networking. And although not everyone needs that information in real-time – when problems occur on networks, the tools to determine exactly what is happening lack context for their data. Dynamic LiveView provides that in a way that other solutions do not – and leverages Procera’s strong technology advantage in real-time visualization.

    Dynamic LiveView is about “Personalization” of the network for the network operators – something that often gets overlooked. Different teams need different views of the network, and Dynamic LiveView is about providing “Your View or Your Network” – however you want it.

    February 28th, 2013 by Cam Cullen; Category: Industry, Technology
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      At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday, Firefox OS was launched, and if it succeeds, it could have a very interesting effect on Mobile applications and policy enforcement needs. Firefox OS is entirely web-based, and Ars Technica put it best – rather than “there’s an app for that”, their answer is “There’s a Web for that!”. Firefox OS is entirely built on HTML5 and other open web standards. It has the support of a number of phone manufacturers and mobile operators, and would love to offer an option to the current duopoly of Apple and Google for both handset manufacturers as well as consumers.

      Why would the success of Firefox OS have an effect on Intelligent Policy Enforcement? Some of the most interesting use cases for Policy Enforcement are in the analytics and charging area, and with Firefox OS – there are no apps anymore.

      There is just the web.

      No “Facebook for Android”. No “Facebook for IOS”. Even no “Flipboard for IOS”.

      So you can recognize one million application signatures? I just need one, thanks.

      What you would need in this type of environment is the ability to understand web traffic better. A value added service plan for the mobile operator would transition from application-based to site and content-based.

      Sounds good to us – a great opportunity for Content Intelligence.

      February 26th, 2013 by Cam Cullen; Category: Products
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        “How are our subscribers using their broadband service?”

        “How can I offer services that my subscribers want?”

        “How long will it take me to launch these services?”

        These are common questions that we get asked every day at Procera. At Mobile World Congress this year, I feel like I have addressed these questions already 50 times (and it is just Day 1!!!!). Procera has been successful in the market because we give network operators the best view of what is happening on their network – both in real-time (LiveView) and historical (Report Studio).

        But what we do today is not enough, and we are continually looking to give our customers more visibility. Our introduction of our Content Intelligence solution (ContentLogic) is groundbreaking, not just for it’s performance and scalability (100s of Gbps for up to 100M URLs), but for the fact that it is done in real time as part of our normal application identification process. It also allows network operators to get a better view of how their subscribers are using their broadband. As our Chief Strategy Officer Jon Linden wrote in his blog, the vast majority of traffic on networks today is HTTP. Understanding what types of content are driving usage is one step to understanding consumer “Value Perception”, or what content does a subscriber perceive as valuable.

        content

        The screenshot above (as an example) shows that streaming media/entertainment (no surprise), Dynamic Content (user-generated sites), and technology sites are popular on this network. Note that this is not just actual streaming video traffic that we are covering, but also the browsing of sites that offer streaming and entertainment content. It also calls out the difference between traditional web traffic (where the number of connections is large) and streaming sites (where the bandwidth usage is large).

        Capitalizing on this type of information is a challenge in most networks today. Identifying trends, creating a service plan or model that leverages that trend, and then enabling that service on the network equipment is a process that takes entirely too long. Policy Management systems (Procera partner Openet for example) are working to simplify that process, but the requirement in today’s network is to launch these services in time to ride the wave. Being FIRST is important to mobile operators looking for differentiation and competitive advantage.

        LTE now offers the bandwidth to capture and enable mass consumption of mobile broadband. The more that an operator can see and the more that they can do, and the faster they can do it, the more likely they are to be the one declared the victor in the LTE race, and the stakes are HUGE.

        Don’t be too late – See More, Do More, in Real-Time – there is no reason to wait. Procera can help you do it.

        January 7th, 2013 by Cam Cullen; Category: Industry, Technology, Uncategorized
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          Procera announced something very important today, and it may not be the exact thing you are thinking of. Yes, we did announce the acquisition of Vineyard Networks, but that was an event, and it is the result of that acquisition that signals a big change going forward. We have long believed at Procera that Deep Packet Inspection was simply a technology, and we have consistently communicated that through our use of Intelligent Policy Enforcement (where we use DPI as our core technology). The combination of Vineyard and Procera takes the two technology leaders in the DPI and offers the industry an opportunity to embed, not just DPI, but “Intelligence” into devices all throughout the network.

          Cloud-based services and Software Defined Networking are blurring the line between enterprises and service provider networks. Consumers are increasingly taking advantage of “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)” policies within enterprises, and are accessing content from multiple devices and networks, both as a consumer and as an enterprise telecommuter. Network operators are expected to deliver consistent services across all access infrastructures, and enterprises are looking for greater visibility and control over the security of their networks. The expectations of consumers for a high quality of experience are sky high, as they have come to depend on these cloud services – whether it is for Social Networking, video streaming, photo sharing, or synchronization of their media libraries with services like iCloud or Dropbox. Network operators are struggling to meet these expectations within their current capital budgets. The growing volume of traffic on both enterprises and ISPs networks require a greater level of network intelligence that can only be provided through solutions that provide context for data for both analytics and control. The growing power of general purpose CPUs has also been a great enabler, as no longer are ASICs or even NPUs required for high performance packet processing.

          Intelligence needs to be spread throughout the network, and many systems are attempting to add “DPI” functionality to their portfolio. However, DPI is a highly specialized function, and evolving constantly to keep up with the changing application and content landscape. Many network equipment vendors and telecom equipment manufacturers are looking for packaged solutions in this area rather than trying to build solutions from scratch, and want a brand name with the largest signature library available. The reason that they are looking for a package is to meet the time-to-market competitive pressures, as more and more vendors are attempting to add the capability to their solutions, and being late to market could be devastating to a product. This need has been what has fueled Vineyard’s growth, and Procera saw an opportunity to create an end-to-end solution for consumers, enterprises, and network operators with the combination of the two technologies. Now Procera can offer OEM technology to consumer and enterprise vendors as well as our PacketLogic Products for network operators.

          Why is this important?

          Software Defined Networking is all about smart networks. The more information available to the network devices, the better the decisions that can be made. Today most policies implemented on routers, switches, and even firewalls are port-based or rudimentary application definitions. “Big Data” gathered from these same devices is based on IPFix or NetFlow, which leverages that same port-based information, and even worse, is normally sampled, missing large amounts of data in a world dominated by Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and social gaming. Network operators and enterprise IT professionals need more intelligence to understand network traffic, and then the same intelligence to be able to enforce business policies on the traffic.  It will not be possible for a single device or a single location in the network to control all traffic (although that single location might be able to do a great deal!), and the more intelligence is embedded throughout the network, the better the network will perform. It is also extremely valuable if traffic can be accounted for using the same application definition on the enterprise system as in the service provider. This opens up new service models, gives enterprises better control of traffic on their networks, better quality access into cloud services, and secures BYOD networking.

          With the addition of Vineyard Networks, Procera will accelerate the pace of innovation. We have led the market in the areas of performance, scalability, and visibility in service provider networks for the past five years, and we will now be able to offer our technology to networks of any size. We have big plans, and I invite you to join Procera in defining the network of the future – may it be smarter than the network of the past.

           

          December 28th, 2012 by Cam Cullen; Category: Industry, Technology
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            2012.sflb_

            I wanted to take a look back at 2012, because it has been a very interesting year from a networking point of view. What applications did we find blazing new paths? What services caught the eye? Any trends that we saw that may affect 2013?

            Best Application: WhatsApp: Although Apple often loves to quote iMessages statistics, WhatsApp was delivering 10B messages a day in August of 2012. This has caused issues for a number of mobile operators, from KPN to others to lose billions in revenue. This is a transformational application that has signaled the end of a predictable revenue stream for operators, who can now kiss SMS revenue goodbye just as they are kissing voice revenue goodbye.

            Trickiest (i.e. Worst) Application: uTorrent: This file sharing application is still the trickiest around. It changes its behavior, tries to use IPv6 tunneling whenever can, loves encryption, and is just generally a pain to keep up with. uTorrent even launched an Android client this year. Although file sharing traffic is declining in some parts of the world, it is still a problem for many network operators. As an IPE vendor, this is one of our biggest applications to try and correctly classify without “false positives”, and we are very careful with uTorrent.

            Most Innovative Pre-paid Service: Yoigo: Have to give one to a Procera customer. Yoigo is one of the fastest growing operators in Europe, and have continued to offer new services that offer significant value to consumers. A Spotify plan and a VOIP offering have been highlights this year. It is not just Procera that thinks so – Their services were recognized by the Broadband Traffic Management Congress Awards in November as the best service enabled by Traffic Management (although we prefer the term “Intelligent Policy Enforcement”.

            Worst Service: LTE iPad plans: When you can hit your data cap in under 4 minutes, the cap is too low. A video user reported by the Wall Street Journal was approaching his cap just a week into his iPad experience. As wonderful as LTE is, if you cannot effectively use the device and run out of usage when you are just getting started.

            Best Service Trend: Free Mobile Broadband: I have a subscription to Freedom PoP, Netzero has a service, and Free in France have all started offering services. This is a great trend, as wi-fi is not prevalent, and sometimes you just need a little broadband to get you through until your next fix.

            Worst Service Trend: Overly Restrictive Caps: This is an interesting one, as I am sure many thing that any company that does what Procera does is for caps. The move to the cloud – Dropbox, iCloud, Spotify, iTunes match – and all the other cloud services – have the potential to be completely stifled by overly restrictive data caps. I share many Dropbox folders with work colleagues, and every time we change or add files to the shared folders, all of my systems download the updates – using lots of Gbytes – even on mobile. I downloaded a 7.9GB game on the Playstation network on Christmas (Lego Lord of the Rings BTW)– that would be almost all of my cap on some networks. Operators need to be more intelligent with caps, and zero-rating some traffic – cloud services, iTunes updates, Windows updates, etc – will go a long way to making caps more acceptable and not stifling new service and application innovation.

            Next up, a look at 2013, and some interesting trends in DPI and IPE.