Procera Networks - Policy Enforcement in Motion

Broadband Service Provider Challenges

Service Providers are competing head-to-head with cable operators, and are looking for ways to enhance their subscriber’s broadband experience. Broadband Providers need fine-grained awareness on the behavior of their network and subscribers, sophisticated analysis tools for business planning, and real-time control that enables them to deliver a superior Quality of Experience on their networks. In copper-based broadband networks, bandwidth can be constrained in the access network and in backhaul, so tools that allow the operator to manage the congestion on the last mile can greatly enhance their service. Wireless-based broadband local loop deployments (like WIMAX), require tight control in the last mile to ensure good service levels for subscribers. In fiber-based broadband networks, managing real-time traffic to ensure a high QOE is a mandatory requirement, as even in these high bandwidth networks congestion can occur in the backhaul network, and beyond that, in order to support the massive increases in access bandwidth, backhaul and core network bandwidth has increased exponentially over the past few years, and solutions that can scale to hundreds of gigabits in some locations. Operators are struggling to cope with the data usage of their subscribers with the new generation of Internet applications and their own triple play services, and meeting the high expectations of their subscribers at a low cost is proving to be a challenge. More streaming usage (both audio and video), file downloading, and even social network interaction are changing the dynamics of the broadband data network.

Broadband Service Provider Requirements

Broadband Service Providers need visibility into the usage patterns on their network. The explosion of bandwidth in broadband networks mandate that any system deployed today must be able to handle the performance increase required to address fiber or wireless local loop upgrades. Operators that have good visualization of the behavior of their subscriber’s applications and application types during peak usage times ensures that congestion management will ensure that subscribers have a good Quality of Experience. Operators also need visibility into the usage patterns of different geographic locations, and the ability to understand when usage patterns require congestion management, capacity increases, or the addition of additional systems to allow more efficient capacity planning and operational expenditures. Tight integration with the Operational Support (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS) is required to provide a single point of access into subscriber services and usage behavior. In some regions of the world, regulatory challenges mandate that congestion management techniques must be user friendly, flexible, and transparent.

PacketLogic Solutions

Procera Networks’ PacketLogic solutions are deployed by Tier 1 Broadband Service Providers worldwide to meet these challenges through patent-pending next-generation technology that provides deep visibility into and control over network traffic. PacketLogic solutions provide deep packet inspection capabilities that allow highly accurate identification of network traffic such as BitTorrent, Streaming Video (YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, etc), Skype and others – even if these applications use port-hopping, encryption, masking or other behaviors to hide their identity. PacketLogic solutions integrate with the Broadband BSS and OSS to provide subscriber and network topology correlation. PacketLogic solutions provide precise visibility into network traffic, allowing accurate management and optimization of bandwidth. Standards-based policy management interworking with policy vendors enables allocation of bandwidth by application (such as VoIP) or subscriber, and time-of-day, down to individual BRAS or aggregation links. With a PacketLogic solution, broadband operators do not need to sacrifice performance, functionality, or scalability as compared to competitive solutions.

Broadband Use Cases:

• Business and Network Analytics: Detailed analytics on network consumption based on users, applications, devices, location, and other metrics used to conduct business plans.
• Usage Management: Management of networks based on volume of traffic consumed by subscribers on the network (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc,).
• Intelligent Charging: Zero Rating or Tiered Charging based on time-of-day, application, or content for “Happy Hour” or “Free” service plans designed to enhance the subscriber experience.
• Tiered Services: Service Management and prioritization of content and applications based on subscriber preferences and service choice.
• Traffic Steering: Subscriber and application-aware steering of traffic to value-added services and 3^rd party content/service providers.
• Threat Management: Integration with threat management systems for granular data feeds, mitigation, and audit purposes.
• Captive Portals, Top-Up, and Proactive Notifications: Re-direction of web browsing to a web service for top-up and service notifications (upsell, billing, emergency notification, etc).
• Congestion Management and Fair Use: Quality of Experience management to ensure high quality delivery of broadband service even in times of congestion on the access or core network.

PacketLogic Benefits for Broadband Service Providers:

• FTTH ready today – no forklift upgrade required – even if bandwidth usage doubles or triples!
• End-to-end integration into the provider’s Billing and Operational network with customizable interfaces to multiple departments: Customer Service, Revenue Assurance, Billing Intelligence using standard interfaces.
• Full subscriber, topology, and service plan awareness with the ability to deploy policies dynamically to manage congestion and QoE
• Scalability to multi-10GE capacity and millions of subscribers, allowing operators to evolve and grow their networks to meet technology and business goals.
• Real-Time operational analysis on the network, users, and applications
• Traffic optimization and service creation functionality that generates customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and added-revenue opportunities