Posts Tagged ‘traffic analysis’

The End of the Internet as we know it: Streaming Live – the Super Bowl!

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 by Cam Cullen

Yesterday, the NFL announced that it would be streaming the Super Bowl live to iPads, Verizon mobile phones and the NBC/NFL websites. In my mind, this marks a significant moment in the annals of streaming video as the potential turning point in the transition from traditional delayed broadcast video to live streaming. Sure, there have been plenty of live streams across the Internet (and not just pirated streams of sports events!). In fact, the NFL streams games every week and the past two Olympics have been streamed online. The NFL claims that 20,000-30,000 viewers watch their regular Sunday night streams, compared to 21,000,000 viewers of the broadcast version. However, the Super Bowl was watched by 111,000,000 viewers last year. NBC has upped the ante by promising excusive content and analysis for the streaming version, which is likely to result in people having both the streaming and broadcast versions active in their household at the same time – the big consumer most likely will be the iPad version.

 Why is this significant for the Internet? 

1)   The NFL and NBC have confidence in their ability to stream content to millions of simultaneous consumers around the world. Although the NFL is not a worldwide sport like soccer (football to the rest of the world!), people watch the Super Bowl worldwide. If this goes well, expect the World Cup final to get the same treatment in 2014.

2)   Broadband networks are expected to be able to handle the streaming load (To Be Determined!) across millions of subscribers. I expect broadband operators to be scrambling to ensure that their peering links with the CDN for this event is up to the task.

3)   The CDN delivering the live streaming is confident that it is up to the task for a live event. This is not a case where you can pre-position content to meet the expected demand.

4)   Latency issues between the live telecast and the streaming event are expected to be minimal. This one is interesting to me as I have seen many cases where a score is reported via Twitter before it happens on my TV screen – for many sports.

If this event succeeds and the NFL is able to claim that they are the first to stream such a significant event live, it will start a rush towards content owners for live events to monetize their properties. It will also potentially signal an aggravation of the problem for broadband operators, as it will give new meaning to “peak” hours.  Peak will now be whenever the event occurs – and not during the standard peak hour times. Some broadband networks will struggle with network congestion in this scenario, so it will be interesting to see which operators can deliver high-quality streams during this event.

Here at Procera, we have been seeing stress building on the Intelligent Policy Enforcement infrastructure; live video streaming will add a new dimension to it. In addition to the bandwidth stress, I would expect to see services pop up in this area – like zero-rated streaming, priority streaming (for a fee) – all of which will not only stress the infrastructure, but also the management and OSS layer for policy management and charging. With live events, this will be an even more acute problem for PCRF/PCEF/OCS/OFCS systems, as the sessions will start within a very short time, creating almost a “network outage”-type flood on the network.

We will be watching this event very closely. Stay tuned for our report after the event.

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Another Great Year at the Educuase Conference!

Friday, October 21st, 2011 by Trevor Failor

The Procera booth was humming with activity as video streaming, device proliferation, and VoD are driving schools to seek more scalable and intelligent tools for managing the increasing bandwidth demands from students and faculty.

My days were booked with customer meetings and it quickly became apparent that our Smart Campus suite’s unique capability to integrate with NAC devices such as Impulse Point, Cisco Clean Access, and Bradford Networks was one of the key points that everyone was impressed with.

There was a very positive buzz at the show and when all is said and done, I keep coming back to four key areas that customers were very interested in:

Device-aggregated Consumption Quotas ­- innovative schools such as University of Dayton are using Procera’s Smart Campus feature to roll up bandwidth consumption over multiple devices associated with a single student and apply a rolling time-based quota that dynamically moves abusers into a “penalty box” where they experience reduced bandwidth.

Enhanced Bandwidth Services -­ schools such as Miami University are rolling out a “Turbo Service”  that enables students with heavy-bandwidth requirements, such as Netflix customer and gamers, to purchase additional bandwidth for a fee.

Enhanced Video Services in the Classroom –  professors are increasingly using YouTube in their curriculum, and with Smart Campus’ ability to layer location, application, and user role-specific policies, it allow schools to guarantee that professors have optimal QoE for video in the classroom.

HEOA & DMCA Compliance ­- only Procera has the ability to proactive notify students of potential usage violations before an infraction takes place, thus educating students and preventing take-down notices from occurring in the first place.     Smart Campus’ ability to track network usage by User ID, not just IP address, shortens the reconciliation process when infractions do occur, also reducing overhead on the networking team.

Now I’m back and have to do my expense report,  but I am looking forward to following up with the attendees and adding many new schools to the rapidly growing PacketLogic community!!!

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Procera Network’s World IPv6 Day Report

Friday, June 10th, 2011 by Cam Cullen

Procera participated with a number of our customers in the World IPv6 day, which occurred on 8 June 2011. World IPv6 Day was a global-scale test flight of IPv6 sponsored by the Internet Society. The primary goal of the event was to motivate organizations across the industry — Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors and web companies — to prepare their networks and associated IP services for IPv6 connectivity and to ensure a successful transition as IPv4 address space runs out. Many web companies and other industry players enabled IPv6 on their main websites for a 24 hour period (and many will maintain their IPv6 presence going forward.

Procera has been monitoring IPv6 deployments for some of our customers for months, and have been watching the trends on IPv6 networks in anticipation of this event. There has been a steady (although low volume) amount of IPv6 traffic on most consumer broadband networks for quite a long time, namely driven by the ability of applications like uTorrent to utilize IPv6 over Teredo (if the OS supports IPv6) to improve the ability of the application to hide from detection and complicate tracking.

We have put together a report on the happenings and some conclusions on what we witnessed on World IPv6 Day, and as a peek at the report, here are the highlights:

World IPv6 Day Highlights:

  • World IPv6 day did not spike the total volume of IPv6 traffic overall, but more native IPv6 traffic was active on consumer broadband networks
  • Native IPv6 users were most likely to browse the web or consume streaming video
  • Google properties experienced the most traffic on consumer broadband networks, driven mainly by streaming video traffic.
  • Netflix over IPv6 also made appearances across North America
  • Teredo traffic still overwhelms native IPv6 on consumer broadband networks
  • Peer-to-Peer File sharing is still the most common application running on IPv6 (using Teredo tunnelling)

Although World IPv6 Day can be considered a success in that it demonstrated that IPv6 content is available and present, the infrastructure and consumer push to IPv6 still has a long way to go. Until IPv6 becomes the default mode of operation, and something that consumers do not have to seek out on their own initiative, it is likely that IPv6 will remain a niche protocol in consumer broadband networks. However, service providers and content providers that participated have shown that IPv6 is viable, and a massive, world-wide concerted effort went into priming these networks to operate using IPv6 for the first time, and once the consumer, device, and network side of the problem is addressed, the content providers appear to be ready to deliver.

The World IPv6 Day Report can be found here:
World IPv6 Day Report – A Look at IPv6 Trends

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Cloudy with a Chance of Internet Showers

Monday, March 14th, 2011 by Cam Cullen

The Cloud” has been a hot topic in the technology space for some time now, with the term becoming so mainline that many companies are using it as a tagline in mainstream advertising (ala Microsoft with their “To the cloud!” campaign). With “The Cloud”, the thinking goes; I can just have my data readily available for access, regardless of my device, location, or access technology. I can always access my pictures (everyone certainly wants to see my pictures of my family vacation!), my documents or spreadsheets, check my balance in my checking account, and my contact database.

Great idea! But what if the cloud is not accessible? Or your access to the cloud is so bad that it might as well be offline?

The concept of the cloud is a great security blanket. It’s like never having to worry about leaving your keys locked in your car or forgetting your wallet when you need it the most. Information is always available, and you can call it up on a moment’s notice. I had a personal experience with the beauty of the cloud this weekend, when I was in New York City that kind of drove home how expectations have changed with respect to access to the Internet. I took the train to NYC, using the on-board Wi-Fi to do work during the ride. I was, you see, trying to access the cloud so that I could have access to salesforce.com, as welI as participate in an online chat conference with some colleagues. I decided on the train as my mode of transport due to the availability of Internet Access and planned to get work done on the train ride. However, the connection was so bad and overloaded, that getting any online work done became impossible. However, the cloud did not fail me completely, as I also have an Android phone, and I can use that phone as a mobile hotspot, which since it supports an HSPA connection, is highly effective in emergency cases, and I was able to complete what I needed to get done (although just barely in a few cases, as occasionally I would drop into 3G or even EDGE areas where access slowed to a crawl.

I have seen and heard of many cases of consumers behaving in a business role (think travelers or telecommuters) that have suffered due to their connectivity and as a result, their companies and businesses have suffered. I know that many companies would be willing (even eager) if they could pay HIGHER amounts for broadband access for some of their employees to ensure that the latest sales forecasts, material orders, or even POs could be placed. Or in the case that I described above, to use more data in emergency cases and pay a bundled daily usage charge (or a reduced rate data package). If I am tethering my phone to my PC, some of the mobile data packages available today are woefully inadequate for even a single day’s work and email (It feels as if I get 1G of data in just email alone some days, much less add web browsing where some pages are 1MB alone – I am looking at you Yahoo with your front page), and a 250MB per month allowance is not sufficient.

Even in the US, where a lot of attention is being paid to tiered services and usage-based pricing models, allowances are made for “managed” services. More options should exist for data plans targeted towards mobile business professionals, as since the bills for these services are subsidized by corporations, the user is not acting as a consumer when they purchase the plan. I have always believed that even flat rate access can be tiered, and I know that if my company could pay to make sure that I had better access for my business traffic as part of my service plan they would be willing to. For example:

  • Prioritize my VPN traffic (even if it requires IP address destination-based rules)
  • Prioritize traffic to SF.com
  • Prioritize IM (which is critical for me to communicate quickly, succinctly, and cheaply with colleagues around the world)
  • Prioritize email access to my corporate server
  • Prioritize access to my file drop-box service (which I sometimes need to use to transfer large presentations, documents, or software versions).
  • And maybe most importantly – GIVE ME A BETTER RATE FOR ROAMING DATA!

Although I would use more bandwidth in the above case, this is offset by a willingness to pay more for this access on an ongoing basis (or as the last point makes, on a per usage basis for roaming). Roaming access to the cloud is completely unacceptable (especially overseas), as often just opening up email exceeds the $50 limit that is set in most countries for user notification.

As broadband providers are consistently looking for ways to generate more revenue, I suggest looking to the business user and offering us plans that would enhance our Quality of Experience – not just with quality access to the internet, but also quality of billing experience. Many users are very willing to pay more for access, and the opportunity is there for you to take advantage of that by offering plans that deliver.

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Holiday Gift of the Year: Streaming Video (Coming to a Home Near You This Holiday Season)

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 by Cam Cullen

There has been lots of talk lately on how video is now the most significant application on the Internet. As a memorable song from the 1970’s says, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Video has been the main bandwidth driver on the Internet for a long time. When filesharing was first introduced, music files were definitely the initial draw. But as broadband proliferated and the DivX codec was introduced, video became the filetype of choice for filesharing. Video has evolved from delayed gratification (i.e. download and wait) to the now ubiquitous streaming video. Over the past few years, YouTube and Hulu have become staples for video afficianados, and the introduction of smartphones and mobile broadband have exploded the accessibility of streaming video beyond just the PC. Over the past year, Netflix (at least in the US) has become a growing force in the entertainment field, and now has support for a wide variety of hardware platforms, ranging from gaming consoles, DVD/BluRay players, Internet connected TVs, and dedicated streaming systems. Apple TV and Google TV are also coming on the scene, and the fun is just getting started for broadband providers.

The market is being flooded this holiday season with “more connected” devices. Retailers that were initially hoping that 3D TVs would be the “Gift of Choice” have shifted their focus to hawking their Internet connected TVs for the holidays. “Ordinary” consumers will soon have multiple broadband connected devices in their home taking advantage of a plethora of streaming video-capable devices (the “Hyper-Connected” families already have this, but that is a topic for a future blog).  It is not unreasonable to expect that a well-connected home may simultaneously have a gaming console watching a Netflix movie, a smartphone watching YouTube, a tablet watching Hulu Plus, and a TV watching Google TV. I believe that this year will be a significant tipping point for video, as there are more devices available than ever before, and the available content is greater than ever before.

Broadband providers that have been struggling with video traffic already are in for a rude surprise on Christmas Day when all of these presents are opened and start to connect themselves to the Internet. Consumer electronics manufacturers are relying on the ability of the broadband connections to validate this market, and if the network fails to deliver, it could have a negative impact on the economy as a whole. No pressure at all.

Fortunately, the intelligence to understand the video traffic and to ensure that it has good quality is available on the market today. Just look up your local Procera sales representative.

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The Butterfly Effect Applied to the Internet: Google Instant

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010 by Cam Cullen

There is a well-publicized metaphor called the Butterfly Effect that summarizes the effect of chaos theory by posing the idea that a butterfly’s wings can create tiny changes in the atmosphere that can cause a tornado somewhere in the world. Google recently introduced a feature called “Google Instant” for search optimization that may have the same type of effect on the Internet.

If you go to Google’s search page and begin to type in the search box, Google will take every letter that you type and return a full search result page as you type. For example, if you enter “t” in as the first letter, Google returns a page with the first entry as Target, and other associated Target web sites. Add a “w” as the second letter, and the search page result changes to Twitter, with a number of associated Twitter sites. Add another “il” and suddenly you are transported to the world of Twilight, Stephanie Meyer’s successful vampire love story. Interestingly enough, The Twilight search page has picture and video thumbnails and graphic returned, even though I have not even completed my search. Any letters that I add continue to suggest pages dynamically. Previously, Google would only suggest search terms (but not make an actual search) based on your browser or search history.

This innovation by Google results in faster response to searches by users, as the search page is essentially immediately available as you complete typing in your full search query, and if you are lucky enough to be searching for someone or something that is at the top of the list, you can get to the result much faster than before Instant was launched.

But at what cost?

A quick look at some of the traffic results from some of our deployed systems shows that since the launch of Google Instant, traffic to Google Search has grown 125% to 200% (i.e. doubled) since the launch of Instant and the number of connections used has increased dramatically. Based on testing, the difference is driven by searches that generate images as part of the search rather than just simple text, which generate more connections and use more bandwidth. Granted, the total volume of bandwidth is still small compared with other applications, but with the frequency of searches on the Internet, this feature will likely attract more people over time, which will drive more traffic to Google. This will in turn make sponsoring these Instant search results more popular and lucrative, and sponsors will put more effort into making the search results more attractive (read more graphics). This will result in more bandwidth being used for each letter typed in the search.

As a user, I don’t think that Google Instant is a bad thing, I am actually very impressed by the speed that it adds to searches, and when I know exactly what I am looking for, I don’t even register the intermediate pages as I type in my search.   The challenge will be for network infrastructures that are already strained on bandwidth and connection scalability (firewall systems for example) to cope with the increase in the number of sessions and bandwidth utilization resulting from this new feature.

People often ask about the “Next Big Thing” on the Internet, and sometimes it is not a new video application, or release of a new P2P client, but a small thing that can have big repercussions on overall network traffic. Doubling any type of traffic is a noteworthy occurrence, and if you can do that in a single day by launching a new feature, you must be living on Internet Time. Google and others will continue to innovate at a rapid pace, and understanding the impact of new applications and new capabilities is still a critical business requirement for network operators. Procera’s solutions provide valuable information to network operators to help them keep up with the rapid changes on their networks.

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Device Awareness: The Key to Service Planning

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 by Cam Cullen

Recently there has been a lot of talk among DPI vendors about location awareness. Location awareness is critical to understanding where the bottlenecks on your network occur, and giving you the ability to actively manage traffic in those locations. Although this is a key capability of what Procera offers (and in much more depth than many other vendors), I want to focus on another key “awareness” component that is not often talked about that can vastly improve the capability of an operator to plan their capacity upgrades and pricing plans.

What is device awareness? Simply put, device awareness is the ability of the DPI system to understand what device is sending/requesting traffic on the network. With so many “internet-connected” devices on networks today, the variety of places and formats to access data has exploded. You can watch Netflix on many TVs, DVD or Blu-Ray players, dedicated boxes (like Roku), consoles (PS3, Wii, and Xbox), smartphones, tablets, or your PC, and Hulu on many of the same.

Why is device awareness important? Understanding what devices your users have connected to the network helps an operator to understand the potential impact of several different scenarios:

1)     If I have x users with a certain device on my networks with a certain location bias and usage profile, what happens if that number becomes 2x?

2)     If a new application comes out (say for example Netflix for PS3, or Hulu Plus for PS3), and I have x users with that device, what is my exposure if 20% of my users start using the new application?

3)     If I want to launch a service with a new device (new iPhone or Android device) and other operators have announced that the normal usage profile for that device is 200GB/month, what might happen to my network with an aggressive take rate?

For Product and Marketing planners, being able to answer these types of questions ensures that the network can handle any changes in user behavior – either application or device related. For users, it ensures that the network can adapt to their usage and not experience dissatisfaction with network performance as usage patterns morph over time. All operators are very aware of the user dissatisfaction issues floating around the world as Smartphone and mobile broadband laptop connections become mission critical for corporations. Proactive management and planning are possible with the right kind of awareness and reporting engines.

How is device awareness implemented?  There are many ways that this can be gathered on the network. In mobile networks, it is common for operators to include this information in the Business or Operational Support Systems for each user account, and often make it part of the user authentication and accounting exchange where it can be snooped by a DPI system. It can also be determined by the applications used by the subscriber (i.e. if the traffic matches Rock Band for the PS3, the user is most likely using a PS3). Another method is by information gleaned from the user agent or application specific information that can be gathered by the DPI engine during Layer 7 analysis. Although each of these methods is not a fail-safe method to gather device information, the combination of these methods can provide a very close approximation for network operators. For example, a query on how many unique subscribers matched a PS3 signature during the month could provide the basis for determining how many subscribers would have access to the new Hulu Plus video streaming application when it was released for the PS3, and another query to see how many of those subscribers had used Hulu (or any streaming video service) before would provide additional planning input to determine the impact of that new service on their network.

Device awareness is a key aspect of the “Awareness” capability of the Procera solution, and without awareness, analysis and control are not possible. I will have more to say on location awareness in a future blog, as this is another key awareness factor, not only for mobile networks, but also for fixed and wi-fi deployments as well. As devices proliferate, being able to ensure that the content is served appropriately for those devices and ensure the correct amount of bandwidth is available will be critical.

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Mobile Data Plans that Work

Monday, June 7th, 2010 by Cam Cullen

Mobile data plans have been in the news quite a bit lately, with Verizon (LTE plans) and AT&T (iPad and iPhone plans) updating the market on their mobile data positions. Verizon has all but announced that there will be no unlimited data plans on their LTE network, which is now scheduled to go live in 30-40 cities in Q4 2010, and people will pay based on their usage. AT&T announced that they are doing away with the unlimited iPad plan (already) and will now support tethering for the iPhone (but only for a 2GB/month plan). Other mobile operators also would rather have data plans based on usage rather than unlimited plans, but it remains to be seen how long or if operators with rich data devices can hold out, or if the pain of congestion will hit their network as it has for AT&T.

But is the ideal answer for mobile data to always bill based on usage? Although I understand the issues that are driving the operators to implement usage based plans (cost control, congestion management, etc.), I think that there are hybrid plans that could significantly accelerate the adoption of mobile data usage (and fixed mobile substitution for some users). Mobile operators could serve their customers better by offering flexible plans that were targeted towards different “consumer” types on their mobile network that were sensitive to application usage and time of day. These plans would be ideal for the new generation of rich media devices (Android phones/tablets, iPhone, iPad, and laptops) and accelerate their adoption by the consumer groups that covet the devices but are still afraid of bill shock (which will be even higher now that overage charges are going to be pervasive). It has been proven that devices can sell data plans, but the plans can also stunt the usage of the devices if using them becomes too complicated and expensive.

What would these plans look like? Most plans would be similar to the existing plans, with usage meters for the majority of data and separate usage meters for the applications that are attractive to specific consumers, with streaming video, audio, and file sharing leading the pack. Although web pages can be a lot of data (I once read an analysis that said the BBC front page was 1MB of data, which could cost you a pretty penny when you are roaming!), the real problem for mobile operators are long-lived streaming or downloading applications that can cause persistent congestion in a cell or on the network. Some examples of targeted plans:

  • Streaming Video: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 25GB of data, unlimited nights and weekends
  • Streaming Audio: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., 10GB of data, unlimited nights and weekends
  • Unlimited Web: Unlimited web browsing and email, 2GB streaming media and other applications
  • Social Media: Unlimited Facebook/MySpace/IM/email, 2GB other applications

These plans could either be an add-on to an existing data plan, or part of different bundles for users. A very attractive iPad plan would offer unlimited web browsing, but a usage meter on other applications. I don’t see these plans as being negative towards Network Neutrality, since they will be selected by the users – as an alternative to the pure usage-based plan that the mobile operator would also offer. Time-based plans are already popular among mobile operators for voice, and could easily be popular among students and business travelers (i.e. Nights and Weekends plans).

My concern is that placing restrictive limits on bandwidth usage will stifle or limit the potential of the nascent market for rich data devices, or limit their use to Wi-Fi networks, which completely misses the goal of upgrades to LTE and other high speed mobile data networks – which is to make access ubiquitous for users (and not ubiquitous just for email). The challenge of implementing these plans is on the systems that would be used to meter the different applications (i.e. DPI systems) to ensure that the application classification is accurate.

An innovative mobile operator that offered these plans as an alternative to a more restrictive plan could tip the scales in their favor when competing for the “high value” users for mobile data. In the highly competitive mobile market, operators that think outside the box and find ways to best leverage the technology that they are already deploying in their networks will emerge victorious and profitable. Flexibility will be a key success factor.

As a user – would you be more likely to purchase a plan that gave you flexibility in how you used your mobile broadband?  I know that I would.

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Mobile World Congress…It is all about the Apps!

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 by Cam Cullen

I have spent the week in Barcelona attending the Mobile World Congress event. Anyone that thinks that there is no vibrancy in the networking world should have been here to see the show. The halls were packed, the booths were busy, and the meeting rooms fully booked. There is a lot of excitement about where the mobile industry is going, and the opportunity that exists for mobile providers going forward.

One thing that jumped out at me during the show was the growing focus on the applications that are driving mobile usage. Yes, there was plenty of LTE hype, and lots of platform and operating system buzz (you should have seen the line for the Android developers lab as well as the push Microsoft made for Windows 7 Mobile), but focus seems to be shifting towards the applications that are driving mobile usage. The operators are keen on pushing new applications, because they will drive up data usage and increase the urge for users to upgrade their devices and service packages.

There is a clear recognition that mobile success may be won or lost on the application front. In the US, Apple has done a good job with marketing the iPhone by focusing on the everyday things that it can do to make your life easier with mobility (finding restaurants, checking on movie showtimes, etc). Google did a great ad during the SuperBowl (American Football for those outside the US) that showed Google search used to progress a storyline for a person’s life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU) which is not specifically targeted at Android, but can be applied to Android and mobility. Microsoft was showing the same type of applications and integration at MWC as part of their booth show. Ericsson announced an applications store (eStore) with more than 30,000 applications that carriers can offer those apps to their own customers.  A new alliance was formed between 24 operators (including ATT, China Mobile, Orange, etc) called the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) designed to simplify how application vendors get their applications to the end user.

Why is this important to a DPI vendor? Mobile operators who want to understand what applications are clicking with their users need to look no further than to a “robust” DPI system to understand what applications, clients, and software their users are running – even down to the device level. Application vendors obviously want the operators to know that their application is popular, since it will open up more opportunities to sell that application, whether it is through the operators own application store or the mobile OS store (iTunes, Android market, etc). The DPI “lite” solutions provided by some vendors will never keep pace with the ability of a dedicated DPI solution. At Procera, application recognition has always been a core element of our solution, we release updates every two weeks to keep pace with the new applications our customers encounter in the wild, and this includes mobile applications.

The applications that really jumped out at me are the “useful” applications that can simplify or make life easier for people. Simple navigation capabilities can be helpful even if you are walking through a large city – looking for a specific location for a meeting, searching for a restaurant, looking for a store. VOIP applications (which are finally being approved for mobile use by some operators) can be cheaper than international calls in some instances (or using the VOIP over wi-fi is even better). Even bar-code scanners that allow instant internet price comparisons are really useful if you are shopping and want to make sure you are getting a better deal.

As mobile operators look to understand what they need to do to generate revenue, I am certain that going forward, applications will be a big part of that plan – whether it is enabling some of the applications in real-time (even if it is not sold by the operator – like GPS), or form a retail perspective in their application stores. DPI can help them understand where their greatest opportunities are – and will allow them to service their customers better by meeting their expectations.

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DPI + Policy Control = True

Monday, January 11th, 2010 by Jon Linden

The rumor is true, DPI and Policy Control are confirmed to be a couple and have been seen hand-in-hand even in public recently. Feelings are mutual and this is bound to last “until death do us part”.

The 3GPP framework rules! At least in the mobile space and it’s also making headway into fixed. That’s good. DPI has become a critical component in a service provider network, which requires DPI to interact with surrounding systems. On top of this complexity grows with tiered services, volume quotas, sponsored sites, and premium gaming and telecommuter services.

This is where the policy server, or PCRF (Policy Charging and Rules Function), comes in.  DPI is an excellent traffic analyzer and policy enforcer. But since DPI in most cases resides inline and manages large volumes of traffic, it can’t afford  “wasting” cycles on polling information from other systems and correlating a lot of conditions.

This is a perfect assignment for the out-of-band PCRF server. PCRF is a decision point – PDP (Policy Decision Point). Once the decision is made it’s sent out to one or more PEPs (Policy Enforcement Point). DPI is a great PEP, but other equipment in the network might occasionally be better suited to host certain policies. The Gx interface in 3GPP enables standardized integration between DPI and PCRF. But the fact is that most installations still use a SOAP interface and a more or less proprietary API, but Gx is starting to make an entrance.

Since DPI and PCRF is part of the same eco system, resolving the same challenges, it’s quite understandable that there is some confusion as to whether or not DPI competes with PCRF vendors like Camiant, Openet, Bridgewater and Volubill. That’s certainly not the case. It’s rather the opposite where everyone’s working with everyone. I dare say it’s flat out promiscuous. Do I also dare to assume there will be consolidation within and between the two segments? Well, let me put it this way: anything else would surprise me.

We, Procera, see that most of our customers and prospects either made a decision or are making a decision on PCRF as they deploy DPI today. This is great. It opens up even more opportunities and options for how to create new services, how to strengthen the operators’ business case, and how to adjust to accommodate the ever-changing reality.

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