Posts Tagged ‘traffic management’

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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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Taking PacketLogic to School…

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 by Cam Cullen

Over the past twelve months, Procera has experienced great successes in the Higher Education market across the globe. Although there are a number of contributing factors to this achievement, a few reasons have really begun to stand out in our minds as to why we have been so successful in this space.

Higher Education institutions around the world have quickly realized that their networks are a critical component in their success, ensuring that the bandwidth is managed properly and that the students have access to the resources that they need to succeed in the classroom is critical. The cost of this bandwidth can quickly spiral out of control, as students will use every bit of available bandwidth – “Just because it is there”. Since all applications do not have the same performance or latency requirements from the network, it makes sense to ensure that real-time applications (VOIP, conferencing, video, etc.) have the necessary bandwidth needed to operate effectively, and congestion on the Internet link is very common. The available bandwidth to universities has dramatically increased over the past few years, to the point where many require not just 1Gbps of network performance, but even up to 10Gbps of capacity of traffic management, and they have outgrown their existing traffic management solutions.

In the United States, there is even a mandate called the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) that instructs Higher Education institutions to take action to help control illegal file sharing. Procera has helped many higher education institutions comply with the HEOA by helping them effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted materials by allowing them to control the use of file sharing technologies on their network – typically a huge contributor to network congestion and bandwidth usage. It has also saved many University CIOs from receiving letters from the MPAA and RIAA about the copyright violations occurring on their network, not to mention helped pare back their overhead by reducing the number of DMCA take-down notices they receive

From our perspective, Higher Education institutions are the breeding ground for new and exciting applications. Being installed in as many of these networks as possible keeps us at the forefront of application trends, as we have seen the use of streaming video, social networking applications, and VOIP/IM applications from around the world skyrocket in these environments, and they continue to keep our signature database ahead of competitors that do not have the same exposure and responsiveness to the Higher Education customer base. We have also benefited from these customers’ deployments as they are often more sophisticated in their use of policies to control bandwidth than even some service providers, so they give PacketLogic a good workout and ensure that our solutions maintain performance and visibility under even heavy loads. We have also experienced good feedback on our implementations of IPv6, which are becoming more and more critical to research universities and international consortiums, as IPv6 has become more prevalent on Internet2 links. We strongly believe that IPv6 will become more critical to networks around the world, and are working to provide the leading IPv6-aware traffic management solution on the market.

Besides, how can you have an “Intelligent” enforcement solution without going to school every once in awhile? We learn something new every day at Procera, and it is often our education customers that teach us that lesson.

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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 Overtakes Voice In Revenue

Thursday, June 10th, 2010 by Jon Linden

Only 18 months ago I was sitting with a mobile operator who told me that their main objective was to ensure that data services didn’t cannibalize their voice revenue. The reason was simple – data service generated about 5% of the revenue.

Fast forward to June 2010. The sun is shining and the World Cup in soccer is just about to kick off, but more importantly Softbank Mobile Japan announces that data services for the first time overtook voice services in revenue in Q1! Japan has always paved the way for mobile data services, and NTT DoCoMo are expected to follow suit during the second half of this year.

But Japan is no different (at least not in this specific sense) than any other country in the western world. I see mobile operators here in Sweden spend the majority of their TV advertising on promoting mobile data services. It has become a differentiator and a big enough piece of the pie. We will shadow Japan and probably break the 50% marker in 2011 in many cases. Mobile data is a $50bn+ business this year in the US according to Chetan Sharma Consulting; a significant business where minor changes and adjustments in packaging, pricing, production cost and ARPU has a substantial impact on bottom-line.

Chetan Sharma also said that the US mobile subscription penetration was approximately 94% at the end of Q1 2010, and past 100% if we take out the demographics of 5 yrs and younger. Growth won’t come from winning new voice users, but from making the ones you have more profitable and to steal customers from the competition – e.g. with compelling data offerings. And you’ll have to control production cost since they’ll constantly expect more at the same price.

The conclusion is that mobile operators must take a seriously look at the packaging of their data services. “All you can eat” is not the best for (almost all) your customers, and it’s certainly not the best for your business case – especially as access speeds go up. That’s why we see more and more mobile operators moving away from flat rate data packages, as Cam referred to in his recent blog post. Tiered services are happening – thank God!

Eventually we will have options for people with different needs. But let’s stop for a second and consider what you’re trying to accomplish. Tiered services can either be a customer incentive or a cost insurance – or both. Don’t get too introvert in controlling potential exceptions with caps and limitations. This will add complexity, customer concern (even if they’re not even close to any limit/cap), and you’re up against some serious competition out there. But still, as said, small changes can have a big impact. Offloading peak hours to better utilize your network, attract new customers, or offer added value services that can boost ARPU can boost your profitability and ability to invest even more in your services and customer support.

I hate to say it, but we know from experience that devices (e.g. iPhone launches or subsidiesed phones) actually sell more subscriptions than any packages we produce. But service packages will support the devices and add to the differentiation. Make sure you know who your customer is, where he is, what applications he’s running, and what device he’s using – in order to accommodate his then current and general needs. Make sure your information is reliable since accurate intelligence enables proper business decisions.

So what are my recommendations? I’ve said it before (Do’s and Don’ts in Bandwidth Control) – keep it simple! Your biggest challenge will be to communicate it, implement it, and justify it (“is YouTube video or web?”). Know your customer. Define your target group and offer applicable services. Serving young savvy nerds with the same offering as unsophisticated 65+ Internet users won’t work. Don’t become too technology-driven and introvert in your business model. And avoid too many options since they will cause confusion.

So, do I need to say that we know this space and offer the solution you’re looking for? Well, we are, and we’re darn good at it! I look forward to you reaching out to me to discuss this further, but in the meantime I’ll kick back and enjoy some seriously good World Cup soccer. Sweden didn’t qualify this year, which gives Swedish mobile operators another four years to work out a business model that supports the network being flooded with real-time streaming video. Good luck (no irony intended).

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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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Does Network Neutrality impact DPI?

Friday, May 7th, 2010 by James Brear

FCC Chairman Genachowski’s recent letter has instigated a lot of talk about Net Neutrality, some of it apocalyptical (“The end of the Internet is here!”), some of it reasonable (“Nothing has changed, business as usual”). Both sides of the discussion have valid points to their arguments, but what really is the impact?

Without going into details (I will leave that to the experts), the FCC has reset the status quo to what it was before the Comcast court decision. As Genachowski himself states in the document “…this approach would restore the status quo”, resetting the ability of the FCC to manage broadband as they have in the past, preserving the FCC’s mission.

This is not “the nuclear option” that had been proposed by some, which would have made every aspect of broadband service open to regulation and restriction, and it is also not a capitulation to the Comcast ruling which would essentially make the FCC powerless against ISPs. Instead, as Genachowski himself headlined in his letter, this was a third way to look at the problem. Under this framework, the FCC would ensure that open access to networks is maintained, and focuses on the connections to the network, and not the content or services that run on that transport.

So now we are back to where we were before the Comcast ruling. However, there still are some concerns about stifling innovation and curtailing investments in broadband, but I think much of the uncertainty has been removed for ISPs (Procera customers) that want to continue to invest in their infrastructures because the evolving needs of their customers require it.

But….we are not exactly back where we were two years ago. Several changes have already come about because of this whole exercise.

  • ISPs know that they MUST be transparent in what they do on their networks, and consumers are watching them very closely, so no funny business is likely to slip by end users. This is a very good thing for consumers, and will force ISPs to think twice before they implement new policies, as they will be tried in the court of opinion well before any court case could be filed, and consumers will vote with their wallets and switch if practices are not to their liking.
  • There is general agreement that applications should not be discriminated against during normal operations (I qualify that because congestion management is still a problem, especially for real-time services).
  • Reasonable network management is OK. Although “reasonable” is open to interpretation, I think again the court of public opinion and consumer’s wallets will guide ISPs to a mutually agreeable definition (and this is also where congestion management is again an issue).
  • The door is open to ISPs that want to be creative and find ways to have service plans that innovate new services and deliver LOWER cost options for subscribers that use the network less and higher cost for the users that consume more resources.

So what is the impact of Net Neutrality on Procera?, neutral to positive. I don’t see any ISPs “behaving badly”, and no application vendors claiming discrimination. I do see smart phone customers still complaining, and some broadband customers concerned about video and voice performance, but our “reasonable” network management solutions can help ISP’s take their service to the next level.  Creating better customer experiences and evolving their networks to keep up with the innovations of technology.

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