It’s that time of year when forecasts are made and one theme that has popped up in several articles is that of Customer Experience Management. 2012, it seems, is going to be the year when the CEM bandwagon accelerates. But CEM encompasses two elements – experience of the network; that is, how it performs; and contact with the service provider; that is, how the provider deals with the customer and handles that interaction.

Network performance is always a challenge. Operators must constantly be vigilant, ensuring that traffic flows smoothly and without disruption. But to achieve this is no simple task. Operators are reliant on Deep Packet Inspection capabilities to monitor traffic and generate essential data. Is traffic flowing at the desired rate? Are latency, jitter and other key metrics being maintained at the appropriate levels? Can the network cope with peaks and troughs, caused by irregular usage patterns?

Today’s DPI solutions risk being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data traversing the network. Traditional, CPU-based solutions lack the scale and performance to cope with the huge surge in user traffic and the high-speed links that are now migrating to 40Gb/s and beyond. That’s why dedicated hardware is required.

By performing packet-processing, the core task of DPI applications, hardware-based solutions can ensure that all traffic is inspected with no packet loss. Instead of flooding CPU-based equipment, hardware solutions can scale to meet growth in traffic and ensure that DPI functions can be performed consistently and reliably. And this is essential – to deliver on CEM promises, the network must be able to provide the information operators need to ensure smooth operation.

Both elements of CEM are important and both present challenges, but ensuring that the network performs as expected is fundamental. Operators need the confidence that scalable, hardware-based packet processing engines can provide if CEM is really going to take off this year.

Find out how hardware acceleration solves packet processing issues in network trouble-shooting and DPI applications

Network delays can have a significant impact on customer experience. As more and more users take advantage of services that have increasing demands on network bandwidth, the issue of network delays that impact service performance will become increasingly important.

That’s why network operators are deploying sophisticated DPI solutions to troubleshoot network issues. But, today’s 10Gb/s and emerging 40Gb/s networks can overload traditional host-based DPI solutions. That’s why hardware acceleration is required, to offload host processor requirements. Find out more by downloading our new white paper – Using Hardware Accelerated 10-40Gb/s Packet Analysis in IMS Policy Applications.

Network delay problems affect all users. For consumers, rapidly adopting services that require real-time performance – such as online gaming, for example – network delays will disrupt and damage their experience, leading to dissatisfaction.

For enterprise users, the adoption of cloud services – of which more and more will have real-time performance requirements, such as video conferencing and collaboration – delays will degrade service and impact the efficiencies and cost savings that such cloud services are supposed to introduce.

In both cases, there is the additional complication of user expectation. People expect services to work in both a mobile and fixed environment, seamlessly. Their perceptions have changed and people don’t expect there to be a difference between what they can do on their mobile device and on their fixed terminal.

This means that network operators have to be able to identify and resolve delay issues before they have a significant impact on service performance and delivery. Customer dissatisfaction leads to churn – and with customer acquisition costs so high, it makes sense to focus on strategies to retain customers.

But where is the delay to be found? Does the problem occur in the access network? In the cable head-end? In the cell-site? The backhaul? The core? Network operators have to be able to identify problems wherever they occur. They have to be able to sample traffic, selectively filter media streams and run analysis to determine if a problem exists and isolate the area in which it is found so that they can take action.

With NGN networks running at 10Gb/s, 40Gb/s and beyond, this is not a trivial issue: there is simply a vast trove of data to be processed – and it has to be analysed in real-time. It’s a real-time world now and that demands high-performance network processors and monitoring systems for DPI applications.

In an ideal world, there would never be any problems; there would always be sufficient bandwidth to cope. But it’s not an ideal world – problems occur on a regular basis, despite best efforts and advances in network provisioning and planning. That’s why network operators need the ability to perform DPI, monitor traffic flows at all points in the network and aggregate results so the full picture can be realised.

Investing in high-speed monitoring capabilities for DPI applications is essential to ensure that existing customers receive the quality of service they expect. And, if you want to add customers, being able to differentiate on service quality may just be a significant asset. The benefits of being able to monitor traffic throughout the network are clear – and it’s a fundamental requirement to be able to adapt to the next generation of transmission speeds. The message is clear: if you want to find hidden delays, you need the right equipment and the ability to cope with the faster line rates delivered by core transmission solutions.

Find out how to build and deploy advanced solutions to manage and monitor your network by contacting Telesoft Technologies today.

Networks are subject to peaks and troughs of traffic as demand rises and falls. It’s difficult to ensure smooth and even flow of traffic at all times. Like a road transport system, there can be blackspots that tend to suffer worse from congestion, or there can be peak intervals when traffic surges and then periods when traffic drops to negligible levels.

Anticipating such uneven demand is challenging. Managing it when it happens is doubly difficult. Network planners can take steps to ensure that blackspots are eliminated, but there’s a strong likelihood that they will occur elsewhere at a different point in time. Real-time events influence user behaviour, increasing demand and, inevitably, exceeding estimates.

That’s why network engineers need to be able to respond to traffic ebbs and flows in real time, adjusting network policies and effecting traffic shaping plans in order to ensure that things go smoothly – and customers are kept happy.

To achieve this requires constant monitoring of the network, observing traffic and checking against key performance metrics to ensure that variables such as latency and jitter are kept within desired target ranges. Network engineers need to be able to spot traffic and to benchmark performance – as traffic enters, transits and exits the network. Performance monitoring has to be accomplished at the edge, the core and at egress points.

One traffic reaches the core, it can be checked to be sure that it maintains performance levels – but this requires the insertion of tools that can cope with the vast flows of traffic that pass into and through networks. If latency from a specific area suddenly jumps, action needs to be taken. If congestion suddenly occurs, rerouting or dynamic capacity allocation must take place – immediately, not in six months time.

Reliable monitoring solutions are required in order to ensure that networks respond in real-time to changes in demand. This needs high-performance, optimised hardware and software, capable of interfacing to the range of optical and Gb/s transmission interfaces deployed in the evolving NGN. Without such equipment, integrated to the control platforms, network management becomes an impossible task. To solve a problem like congestion – or indeed, any of the problems that can confront network traffic, network operators must diligently monitor traffic at all points of the network and be ready to respond.

With continued growth in IP traffic forecast – set to reach the milestone of one zettabyte according to Cisco’s annual Visual Networking Index – it’s worth considering how the mix of that traffic will reflect user application consumption.

In the consumer world, the traffic will include data from a range of sources – including gaming, video, VoIP and so on. But the strongest growth will come from internet video and online gaming. These are applications that demand high-performance, as users increasingly shift to a real-time experience. A multi-player game needs optimal performance in terms of latency, round-trip delays – if it doesn’t meet minimum performance standards, then it ceases to be a viable proposition.

The network operators who carry the traffic for such games and video content have a responsibility to ensure their networks can meet user expectations. This isn’t easy – they need to be constantly alert to ensure that traffic flows smoothly and that bottlenecks and congestion is rapidly alleviated.

This requires constant monitoring and sampling of traffic from across their entire network. To achieve this, they have to deploy solutions that can collect, sample and filter traffic. High-performance monitoring systems must be deployed in order to ensure that users obtain the quality of service that they expect.

With faster and faster network infrastructure being deployed – moving from 10Gb/s to 40Gb/s and, soon, up to 100Gb/s in the core – this demands solutions that can cope with monitoring data at these rates. Hardware acceleration provides a convenient, scalable solution to this problem, ensuring that the control systems can cope with the rapid growth in data traffic.

By using hardware acceleration solutions for packet filtering, network operators can confidently ensure that user expectations are met and that potential problems are identified and eliminated before network degradation occurs.

GTP – or GPRS Tunneling Protocol to give it its full name – has been around for some time. Originally created to allow IP sessions to be conveyed across circuit-switched GPRS networks, it remains the core protocol behind data transmission in mobile networks and is fundamental to the success of UMTS (3G) and emerging LTE (4G) networks.

Although the network architecture continues to evolve, GTP is responsible for the transport and control of user data in packet format between the various nodes. As such, it’s essential that GTP flows proceed smoothly and accurately, ensuring that data is delivered correctly and at the correct need.

This is particularly important when we consider the massive growth in mobile data traffic that has already taken place – and that is forecast for the coming years. According to Cisco, mobile data traffic will grow at a CAGR of 92% between 2010 and 2015.

What’s more, the volume of mobile video traffic will grow at the highest rate for any specific application covered, accounting for 2/3rds of all mobile traffic by the end of the period covered. This will not only place a strain on network capacity, but it will demand high performance – users will want to be able to watch, download and, significantly, upload more and more video content in real-time.

Mobile network operators (MNOs) need to plan for this – and some have taken steps to introduce video optimization and buffering solutions, but the smooth management of the network demands more. MNOs have to be able to monitor network performance and troubleshoot issues. They have to be able to proactively manage user experience and that means accessing the vast and growing volume of data traversing the network so that they can identify problems before they have an impact on the network.

GTP is critical to this – MNOs have to be able to access GTP streams, a task made more complex by the fact that there are actually three protocols within the GTP family. GTP-C conveys signaling information between core nodes; GTP-U carries user data; and GTP-P provides charging data for sessions.

MNOs must be able to passively connect to all of these interfaces in order to obtain the information they need to identify and resolve issues. This demands high-performance, specialized hardware solutions, so that the control applications can be focused on reacting and controlling the resulting flow of information. In evolving mobile networks, the ability to access GTP information is crucial to an optimized user experience.

For more information - read our white paper.

Hardware packet processing to accelerate the performance of DPI applications.

Blandford, UK, 13th December 2012 – Telesoft Technologies announced today the availability of a new range of high-speed packet processing cards that have been designed to significantly accelerate the performance of deep packet inspection applications.

Processor intensive DPI applications need to be able to selectively process packets from high-speed electrical and optical networks. Delegating the task of packet processing to specialised resource cards significantly reduces the demands on the host CPU and accelerates deep packet inspection processes. By offloading the packet processing function, the new MPAC-IP cards help to reduce the packet-processing overhead and improve the throughput of deep packet inspection applications.

Using dynamic filtering, the MPAC-IP cards can be configured in real-time to only select the packets that are of interest, eliminating the need for applications to identify and discard irrelevant packets. Advanced buffering ensures that 100% of packets can be captured, with zero loss, in real-time and at transmission rates of up to 40Gb/s from each input source.

More than 32,000 dynamically configurable filters are available to provide complete user control of a range of applications that depend on line-rate deep packet inspection such as QoS/ QoE monitoring, packet monitoring, policy management and cyber security.

Andy Evripides, Senior VP Sales and Marketing at Telesoft Technologies, said, “The new MPAC-IP cards will help developers to create line-speed packet processing applications that miss no data during packet flow analysis. The size of the buffer ensures that 100% of traffic can be captured in real time at 40Gbps rates and with 32,000 dynamically configurable packet filters, the new MPAC-IP range provides industry leading flexibility and performance.”

“By using our technology to offload packet processing, developers and OEMs can significantly reduce costs and enhance the efficiency of their solutions”, he added.

The full range of MPAC-IP packet processing hardware is available today enabling developers to leverage a new standard of packet processing in the DPI applications.

The market for DPI solutions is set to soar, according to research by analysts at Heavy Reading. But much of the next generation of DPI equipment will incorporate off-the-shelf OEM solutions that enable the application providers to leverage technology advances and stay abreast of network enhancements.

By embedding OEM solutions into DPI equipment, vendors can focus on their core differentiation and leverage advances in technology that enable the deployment of DPI solutions in emerging optical networks, first at 10Gb/s and then 40Gb/s and beyond.

DPI solutions are being deployed to enable operators to manage traffic more effectively, to deploy richer customer experience solutions and to support innovative billing plans, but the applications behind DPI need to keep up with network migration towards faster and faster transmission speeds. This presents a challenge – more traffic means more data to manage.

For this reason, OEM DPI solutions that can be embedded in off-the-shelf platforms liberate the application provider from concerns about changes to the underlying network infrastructure. By using solutions that are adapted to different transmission rates and interfaces, the DPI application vendor can focus on differentiating their applications and delegate the process of filtering and inspecting packets to the OEM solutions they choose.

OEM solutions for DPI also enable a broader range of solutions and extend the ecosystem, enabling more vendors to incorporate DPI capabilities into their products. The DPI market will grow rapidly, but the growth will be helped, not just by demand, but also by the widespread availability of solutions that reduce the barriers to entry by offering OEM DPI capabilities in packages that can be embedded with other components to deliver a turnkey solution.

As the network continues to evolve, this will be a key means by which DPI application specialists maintain their competitive advantage, as they can focus on their applications and leverage off-the-shelf solutions that connect directly to optical transport and enable them to interface to 10, 40 or 100Gb/s pipes.

According to a new report from leading analyst firm Heavy Reading, rapid traffic growth in India means that upgrades to optical transport networks have become a top priority for operators. Network transformation is essential to reduce costs, increase efficiency and to maintain QoS for data hungry and demanding users.

This points to a significant opportunity for vendors of optical solutions. But, it also has implications for applications that must access this data, such as the Deep Packet Inspection engines required for policy reporting and enforcement. Migration towards optical transport will require the deployment of solutions that can passively capture data from Gigabit Ethernet connections and SIP session control equipment. DPI and policy enforcement is viewed as being critical to on-going efforts to optimise and monetise networks.

Renewal of networks to meet surging demand and to provide a foundation for future growth must be accompanied by upgrade of DPI equipment that can meet current and future requirements. As operators deploy 10Gb/s Ethernet, they need to ensure that they can ensure that their policy control framework can capture data in real-time, which demands passive capture solutions that can support optical interfaces.

What’s more, 10Gb/s is just the start – in the coming years, 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s will also gain traction, meaning that operators face a challenge to keep abreast of requirements. The transition to optical transport and next-generation networks represents a huge opportunity for Indian operators, buoyed by rapid traffic growth, but the challenge of – and opportunity associated with simultaneous deployment of appropriate monitoring solutions must also be met – and not overlooked.

NGN networks dramatically improve transmission efficiency, with the ability to deliver many thousands of concurrent call sessions across high-speed trunks. But the sheer volume of data complicates matters for applications that are required to monitor and capture data from these connections, such as traffic management, flow control, policy reporting and policy enforcement.

It is widely recognised that network-based policies will be essential to ambitions to introduce differentiated charging schemes. This requires the ability to understand traffic being conveyed over high-speed links. For efficiency, it’s best to tap directly into such links, but this must be done passively in order not to disrupt line traffic. What’s more, although bigger pipes mean more efficient transport of large quantities of data, this makes traditional solutions with largely host-based processing unable to keep up with demands.

An alternative solution is to use specialised hardware to provide dedicated pre-processing of signalling information and bearer traffic. Such hardware can offload the demanding packet processing requirements from host CPUs. The hardware accelerator should be able to:

1. Capture packets from both signalling and media
2. Process all incoming packets
3. Selectively process and filter SIP packets
4. Deliver packets to the host DPI application on a selective basis

For example, at stage 1, a hardware acceleration solution, such as the MPAC-IP card aligns to the layer 2 protocol using Ethernet or PoS framing, and captures every packet on the network node. In the PoS case, the MPAC-IP card extracts IP packets from whatever format they’re carried – (e.g. ATM, PPP, or raw Ethernet over SDH). In the Ethernet case, the MPAC-IP card captures complete Ethernet packets for processing and delivery.

At stage 2, the MPAC-IP card generates a precision timestamp for each packet it receives, maps and classifies the protocol stack, and generates a hash code to group packets from common flows.

The MPAC-IP card’s stage 3 processing layer filters packets to ensure that only interesting packets are delivered to the DPI application. When each packet arrives at the stage 3 processing layer, the MPAC-IP card compares it against a list of criteria defined by the DPI application. Parsing the SIP packets, it also aids the DPI application to track SIP session state.

Once the MPAC-IP card has filtered and pre-processed the packets, it needs to deliver them, along with associated metadata, to the DPI application running on the host server. To minimize CPU requirements on the host server, the MPAC-IP card writes directly to packet monitoring queue memory on the host server using a DMA mechanism.

By using hardware acceleration solutions, the task of identifying, filtering and processing the vast amounts of data required applications such as policy reporting and enforcement can be considerably eased, ensuring that solutions can scale to meet the demands of the networks of today – and tomorrow.

Hardware acceleration is the perfect complement to existing solutions, enabling them to scale and to operate with greater efficiency across a complete high-speed network infrastructure. As the importance of network-wide policy reporting and enforcement architectures is recognised and with ever growing volumes of traffic, this is a problem that cannot be ignored.

Lawful interception (LI) is an essential application that must be supported by network operators. Call or media content for selected calls (or sessions) has to be made available to LI applications, at the request of authorised Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA).

But as networks have migrated towards an IMS core and high-speed packet transport, the task of collecting such information has become increasingly complex. Typically, passive probes are deployed to achieve this – a signalling probe, that can inspect SIP packets, and a media bearer probe that interfaces with the high-speed packet transport conveying the media.

Deploying probes to accomplish this task is no easy task, as they need to interface to both the network and to the LI application. That’s why ETIS (among others) took steps to standardise the interfaces over which such information is presented.

The process of passing this information to LI applications from network operators and service providers for further treatment and processing is known as “Handover”. With the standards-based approach, three handover interfaces are described:

• HI1: Administrative information;
• HI2: Intercept related information; and
• HI3: Content of communication.

In the case of IMS / SIP networks, the network operator provisions the SIP probe over the HI1 interface with a list of required targets for lawful interception. The SIP probe:

• Detects any SIP packets passing its network node;
• Compares the SIP sessions against the lawful interception target list;
• Generates HI2 Intercept Related Information (and CDRs) on target sessions;
• Analyses the session information (SDP) in the target SIP packets to identify media sessions; and
• Issues intercept commands to the media bearer probes accordingly.

The media bearer probes compare any traffic seen on their monitoring nodes to the intercept commands that the SIP probes have configured in response to corresponding signalling. The media bearer probes deliver any media session packets that match the target list as provisioned by the SIP probes to the user network using the HI3 interface.

Because the interfaces procedures are standardised, network operators can be confidant that, by deploying compliant probes, they can meet the obligations of LEAs and meet their regulatory requirements. With probes that support standard handover interfaces, the task of deploying solutions to meet the requirements of LEA and LI applications is considerably eased.