Deep Packet Inspection on MCDEAN-ASN - M.C. Dean AS23168 Network

Less than half of the world's service providers have a detailed understanding of the traffic flowing across their networks, and even fewer are aware of the usage patterns of their subscribers. These providers have little understanding of the cost components of their networks, let alone the revenue potential that may be exploited.
Service providers need to track how subscribers are using their broadband connection so as to clearly understand the value of the service they are offering as well as the natural segmentation of their subscriber base. By gaining intimate knowledge of their subscribers, service providers can introduce compelling new service bundles designed to increase customer loyalty and service penetration.
Deep packet inspection (DPI) provides the ability to look into the packet past the basic header information. DPI intelligently determines the contents of a particular packet, and then either records that information for statistical purposes or performs an action on the packet.

The goal of usage analysis or network profiling is simple: to identify how network resources are being used in order to generate revenue streams commensurate with the business model. Our solution gives service providers an effective way to gain true visibility into subscriber activity and usage patterns of even the most complex network environments.

Applications enabled by DPI include the following:

• AS23168 Traffic Management, or the ability to control end-user applications such as peer-to-peer applications

• MCDEAN-ASN - M.C. Dean Security, resource, and admission control

• Policy enforcement and service enhancements such as personalization of content or US content filtering

Benefits include increased visibility into the network traffic, which enables network operators to understand usage patterns and to correlate network performance information along with providing usage base billing or even acceptable usage monitoring.

DPI can also reduce the overall costs on the network by reducing operation expenses (OpEx) and capital expenses (CapEx) by providing a more thorough understanding of what is happening with the network, and by providing the ability to direct traffic or to prioritize traffic more intelligently.

The need for Network Visibility

Regardless of network size or complexity, geography, or services offered, providers of broadband services need to go beyond raw network statistics and obtain a clear understanding of the type of applications and activities in their network. This includes detailed, ongoing monitoring of the following:
• Bandwidth use by application - A growing challenge in managing a successful broadband network is efficiently reducing operating and capital expenses. Service providers need a clear understanding of what type of applications, services, and network activities are consuming network resources, at what times, and in what percentages. By understanding usage in peak and off-peak hours, popular applications, and popular destinations, operators can develop ways to optimize network traffic, reduce cost, and improve network performance.
• Subscriber usage demographics - With the growth in broadband subscribers, the types of usage and requirements of the broadband community have grown more diverse. Whereas some subscribers are heavy bandwidth consumers, others are more casual and require less network capacity and bandwidth. Some use a wide range of applications such as gaming, voice, video, and file-sharing, whereas others use the network only for occasional browsing and e-mail. Some subscribers use their broadband connection for business, others for leisure and entertainment. Service providers need to categorize their subscriber base according to the actual use of their network in order to analyze ongoing trends and devise new service bundles.
• Peer-to-peer traffic - Peer-to-peer traffic now accounts for between 65 and 80 percent of the world's service provider traffic. Managing this traffic is a significant issue for operators, manifesting itself in poor overall broadband service and in increased costs due to increased help-desk calls, subscriber turnover, and skyrocketing peering costs for international traffic. Although U.S. service providers struggle with peer-to-peer traffic, they rarely face the financial issues encountered by providers outside of the U.S. that are mass "importers" of content. When most of the peer-to-peer content resides outside of their network boundaries, service providers quickly find themselves losing money when their subscribers download content across international lines.
• The presence of malicious traffic - There are now approximately 180,000 digital attacks worldwide each year, causing both service disruptions and financial outlays. Attacks have increased in number-by an order of magnitude over the past three years-and in speed of proliferation. It now takes less than 10 percent of the time to infect 1 million machines than it did only two years ago. Along with worms and viruses, e-mail spam has become a significant component of malicious traffic, now accounting for between 65 and 75 percent of all e-mail traffic. As with viruses and worms, spam carries with it a significant financial cost. According to the Gartner Group, spam is directly responsible for 7 percent of service provider turnover.
• Lack of visibility into services and revenue opportunities - Without visibility into subscriber traffic patterns, estimating the potential demand for new services becomes a challenge. For example, broadband voice may be an appealing service for subscribers, but how can you accurately gauge demand, and growth in this demand, if you have no insight into existing broadband voice service usage? Existing broadband voice activity data on your network could not only provide insight into the growth in demand for these services over time, but could also open the door to new revenue-sharing opportunities for these types of services. Having no visibility into network traffic makes it difficult to understand existing subscribers, let alone decide which new services to launch.

DPI in MCDEAN-ASN - M.C. Dean`s ACCESS POINTS

When the DPI engine is used, an access point operator can gain a deeper understanding of what application traffic is truly passing through the AS23168 network. Even though application traffic is constantly changing, the DPI engine provides customers with up to date and accurate data. Real-time application information also enables access point operator to use this data to work with their customers to identify business critical applications that need precedence, implement policy enforcement, and optimize their networks. All of these things then contribute to the overall quality of experience for end-users.
As access point operators now have an established and effective alternative to developing application identification and DPI capabilities in-house, they can focus resources on core functionalities while reducing their time to market. This ultimately leads to a more robust end user solution and more satisfied customers.

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