Managing Data Demand: DPI is Essential for Fair Access for All

A recent article has highlighted some of the problems that Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) face when attempting to manage traffic in their network.

Traffic management is needed for a variety of reasons. First, quality of service needs to be maintained – both for the network overall and for individual customers. Secondly, with MNOs increasingly offering packages that set limits to data consumption, they need to be able to monitor usage of individual users to ensure that they do not exceed a given quota or that they are billed appropriately if they do so.

Thirdly, there may be restrictions on the use of certain applications, because the MNO or regulator has a specific policy or because there is a legal reason preventing access. Fourthly, there may be specific policies that need to be enforced – for example, if users pay for a high-performance service, the MNO must be able to deliver the required level of performance to the subscribers. And, fifthly, users need fair access to bandwidth – those that over-consume may be subject to temporary restrictions, ensuring that bandwidth is available for other users. We could go on, but it’s clear that traffic management is absolutely critical to the smooth operation and performance of the network.

And that’s why MNOs need the tools to ensure that they can review traffic and manage network demands in real-time. Deep packet inspection technology is critical to this. And with transmission rates increasing all the time, it’s a struggle to keep up. MNOs need DPI solutions that can scale effectively and cope with continually increasing traffic flows.

The volume of data and the rate at which it is transmitted just keep on growing. Traditional DPI equipment will be overwhelmed by this flow of data, as it relies in CPU-based technology for processing the data. A better solution is to perform the pre-processing at the level of hardware, ensuring that only packets of interest are sent to the control application. This means that the pressure on CPUs is alleviated, ensuring the DPI application can perform as expected.

After all, DPI is now fundamental to ensure network performance, to meet customer expectations and to ensure fair access to data for all. Quite simply, without DPI, MNOs would be unable to manage their networks.