ipoque Joins ALU's NFV Ecosystem

ipoque announced it has "joined Alcatel-Lucent’s Cloudband Ecosystem Program, a community of 60+ like-minded NFV innovators accelerating the reality of network functions virtualization (NFV).

With the agreement, ipoque committed to contributing its R&S PACE protocol and application classification engine to the program, an OEM software for application-awareness, designed to run in virtual environments with no loss of performance" 

Other members in ALU's Couldband are shown here and include ipoque's direct competitors: Qosmos, Procera, Sandvine and Allot.

See "ipoque brings application awareness technology to Alcatel-Lucent’s CloudBand ecosystem for traffic visibility and more agile operation of network functions virtualization (NFV)" - here.

Allot Partners with Checkpoint

Allot Communications and Check Point Software Technologies, announced ".. collaboration to demonstrate a virtual mobile Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) solution for bringing cutting-edge security services to mobile networks leveraging network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN). 

The joint solution that was demonstrated consists of Allot’s Service Gateway – Virtual Edition [see "Allot Launches a Virtual Gateway and Services @200Gbps/Server" - here] with Check Point’s Security Gateway Virtual Edition. 

• Allot provided a virtual network function (VNF) with pre-integrated services and a framework connected to the cloud infrastructure, orchestration, OSS and BSS platforms
   
• Check Point provided a VNF protecting dynamic virtualized environments from internal and external threats by securing virtual machines and applications with the full range of Check Point Software Blades. Software Defined Networking (SDN), which enables the separation of the control plane and data plane, is used to diminish deployment challenges in NFV such as service consistency and reliability.

During the earning call, Andrei Elfanct, Allot's CEO made some references to the new partnership:(see "Allot Communications' (ALLT) CEO Andrei Elefant on Q3 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript", by SeekingAlpha, here): 

• the work that we are doing with CheckPoint and specifically to what we announced this morning, we are working with them on this demonstration to build an offering that is targeting NFV network and this is part of some other work that we are doing with CheckPoint.
   
• to demonstrate the value of that we worked with Checkpoint where they're bringing the security as a service solutions and we enable it to be deployed very quickly and efficiently in a mobile environment, so we've delivered the subscriber management integration and the integration with orchestration and some other components

See "Allot and Check Point Partner and Demonstrate Virtual Mobile Security-as-a-Service" - here.

Allot's Q3 Revenues: $23.5M; Expects $25-30M for Q4

Allot Communications has released its Q3 2015 results, showing revenues of $23.5M (see "Allot Communications Announces Third Quarter 2015 Financial Results" - here). The company "reiterates its previously provided guidance and expects total non-GAAP revenues to be in the range of $100 million to $105 million for full year 2015" - i.e. expecting Q4 revenues of $25.4-30.4M, vs, $30.6M in Q4 2014.

The following chart compares the results ratio of the two remaining public DPI vendors - Allot and Sandvine.

Algar Telecom Uses Openet PCC to Create New Services

Openet announced that "Algar Telecom has adopted Openet’s Policy Manager solution to streamline product development and reduce time to market. Openet’s Policy Manager solution will play a crucial role in delivering next-generation network capabilities, offering centralized access to subscriber data and other specialised BSS functions. By operating in real-time Openet’s Policy Manager will play a fundamental role streamlining the creation of new products and services. 

Using Openet’s Policy Manager, Algar Telecom enables real-time management of data quotas and uses these to target context aware offers to customers. This includes roaming offers, which provide data add-ons when customers reach their roaming data limits. These offers are activated in real-time and a deliver new revenue streams to Algar"


See "Algar Telecom Adopts Openet's Policy Manager Solution to Streamline Product Development" - here.

The EU Approves Net Neutrality

The European parliament approved the "Open access to internet" rules (see "The EU 'Enshrines Net Neutrality’s no Blocking or Throttling Rules'" - here and the proposal's text here).

"The new law will oblige firms offering internet access to treat all traffic equally, i.e. not to block or slow delivery of content, applications or services from selected senders or to selected receivers, unless this is necessary to obey court orders, comply with laws, prevent network congestion or combat cyber-attacks. If such traffic management measures are needed, they will have to be "transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate" and may not last for longer than necessary.

An operator will nonetheless be able to offer specialized services (such as the improved internet quality needed for certain services), but only on condition that this does not have an impact on general internet quality". 

In addition - "MEPs ensured that internet providers will have to give users who are about to sign fixed or mobile internet contracts a clear explanation of what download and upload speeds (compared to the advertised speed) they can usually expect. 

Any significant discrepancy that is continuous or occurs regularly will trigger a right to remedies such as terminating the contract or getting compensation. The national regulatory authorities will be responsible for verifying whether the difference is a breach of contract or not"

See "End in sight for mobile phone “roaming” fees and unequal internet access" - here.

[Infonetics]: Business Analysis of the 5 Leading SDP Vendors

 
A recent survey by Shira Levine, research director for service enablement and subscriber intelligence. IHS "profiles and analyzes the top 5 SDP software vendors as identified by service providers: Ericsson, HP, Huawei, OpenCloud and Oracle:

• Ericsson, Huawei and Oracle have all built strong portfolios, both organically and via acquisition, around the SDP opportunity, and that is reflected in their leadership positions in this year’s scorecard.  However, as the market shifts toward emerging opportunities such as API platforms and alternative delivery models, these established players may get a run for their money from smaller suppliers with a more targeted focus, 
   
• Ericsson’s longstanding presence in the wireless industry in general—and SDP market specifically—helps it land a leadership position
   
• Huawei ramped up in the SDP space quickly, gaining market share by selling into developing regions
   
• Oracle enjoys strong financials, a solid customer base, and a reputation for reliability and support which have helped the company maintain a leadership standing in SDP
   
• Despite a solid roster of customers, HP is struggling in the SDP market as it addresses financial issues and revamps its product suite
   
• Smaller player OpenCloud continues to grow by positioning itself as a less expensive and more innovative option to the larger SDP suppliers

See "IHS Names Ericsson, Huawei and Oracle Leaders in Service DeliveryPlatform Scorecard" - here.

NBN [Australia] to Use DPI for Restricting Data Usage During Peak Periods

 

NBN Co Satellite Ground Stations

Few weeks ago NBN Australia published an RFI for DPI (see "Carrier Grade (3 9's) DPI RFI by nbn Australia" - here). Recent information shows some of the intended use.

Allie Coyne reports to itnews that "NBN plans to set caps for users on its long-term satellite service, proposing a maximum usage limit of 150GB per month following capacity issues on its interim satellite service.

As first revealed by NBN watcher Ken Tsang, NBN is planning to implement limits that mean LTSS users would be able to download no more than 150GB each month [pdf]. The 150GB tier would be the highest of three tiers. The two lower tiers come in at 75GB and 100GB.

NBN also plans to restrict customer data usage during peak periods, providing them either 15GB, 20GB or 25GB of download for the period, dependent on tier. Quotas would similarly apply for uploads. Customers who exceed the data cap will face having their speeds shaped down to as little as 256kbps for download and upload.

In late September NBN revealed it would start using network monitoring tools to stop individuals sucking up high amounts of bandwidth on the LTSS. It said it would implement deep packet inspection technology to "enhance its capacity planning, offer new services and improve congestion management".

See "Data limits proposed for satellite NBN users" - here.

Oracle: LTE Diameter Signaling Traffic will Grow @68% CAGR

Oracle's new study “Oracle Communications LTE Diameter Signaling Index, Fourth Edition" finds "a massive increase in LTE Diameter signaling traffic ..  Oracle forecasts that LTE Diameter signaling traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 68 percent in the next five years, from 30 million messages per second (MPS) in 2014 to 395 million MPS by 2019:

• LTE Broadcast is the fastest-growing generator of Diameter signaling traffic, creating 49.5 million MPS by 2019 at a CAGR of 75 percent. The technology is just emerging, and continued growth is expected as CSPs trial LTE Broadcast for everything from digital signage to live video feeds at sporting events
     
• Policy continues to drive the majority of Diameter signaling traffic, creating 277 million MPS. With more-sophisticated policy use cases, the number of Diameter transactions between policy enforcement points and charging has increased
   
• Mobility will generate 25.3 million MPS by 2019. It is currently not a major factor in overall Diameter signaling traffic generation, because it creates a low number of transactions in the Diameter network
     
• Voice over LTE (VoLTE) will generate 43.1 million MPS at a CAGR of 49 percent by 2019

See "Oracle Forecast: Global Diameter Signaling Growth Will Surpass Total Global IP Traffic Growth by 2019" - here.

Oracle's Diameter Signaling Router is Now Cloud-deployable

Oracle has "..introduced a new version of Oracle Communications Diameter Signaling Router. The new release of the proven product is now cloud-deployable, designed to help communications service providers (CSPs) monetize their networks by creating new services and use a virtualized infrastructure to launch these services more quickly.

Oracle Communications Diameter Signaling Router

.. A diameter signaling router that CSPs can deploy in a common and shared infrastructure with other telecommunications applications in a private or hosted cloud: This can help CSPs realize the benefits of NFV—rolling out new services faster and reducing operating expenses". 

See "Oracle Communications Diameter Signaling Router Is Now Cloud-Deployable" - here.

[Infonetics]: The DPI Market is Slow to Adapt NFV; to Reach $972M in 2015

A new report by Shira Levine [pictured], research director for service enablement and subscriber intelligence IHS on the DPI market:

• "projecting the global deep packet inspection (DPI) market to grow to $972 million in 2015, up 15 percent year-over-year, as communications service providers continue to use DPI as a key tool for bandwidth management and the creation of new services and feature ..
   
• The majority of the traditional DPI appliance suppliers had a challenging first half of 2015, but smaller players, particularly the embedded DPI suppliers such as Qosmos, saw healthy year-over-year growth [see "Openwave Mobility Integrates Qosmos' DPI " - here]
  
  [Related posts: "Is there a problem in the DPI Market ?" - part1, part2, part3]
  
  The chart on the right shows Infonetics' prediction for the DPI market from 2010

• While the major DPI suppliers are tackling the virtualization trend head-on, moving aggressively to introduce virtualized versions of their products and forge relationships within the NFV ecosystem, their customers are slower to jump on the bandwagon. Performance concerns remain an issue, and operators continue to be conservative with deployments of virtualized DPI technology
   
• DPI is playing a key role in another hot area—analytics—with operators increasingly interested in leveraging network intelligence gleaned from DPI as part of their larger ‘big data’ strategies
   
• There is renewed opportunity for DPI suppliers to address operators’ security concerns, leveraging their solutions to tackle network infrastructure threats such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, worms and viruses on a real-time basis" [related post - "Allot: $8M Expansion Order for Security Services" - here]

See "Deep Packet Inspection to Play Key Role in Operator Analytics, BigData Strategies" - here.

Movistar Argentina Deploys Comptel Data Analytics

Comptel  announced that it has ".. started the deployment of Comptel’s DATA FASTERMIND™ with Movistar Argentina, an operator owned by Telefónica Group ..  Movistar Argentina can now glean real-time insights from its data, to enhance business stream and service monitoring and improve data record searches and reporting to local authorities.

DATA FASTERMIND™ embeds analytics into operational processes, providing the intelligence to detect deviations in usage data, utilising machine-learning capabilities. This helps the fixed and mobile operator easily perform service monitoring in real time. 

With the automatic triggering of early warnings, Movistar can react quickly to irregularities and identify root causes to enable faster resolutions. This protects Movistar’s revenue, while helping it plan for system resources against future usage. 

DATA FASTERMIND™ also allows Movistar to comply with lawful interception requirements. The technology enables efficient searches into the operator’s storage capacity, consisting of hundreds of terabytes of data accumulated over the course of 10 years. With Comptel’s solution, Movistar can easily analyse, filter and cross-check users’ information, such as call detail records (CDRs).


See "Movistar Argentina Applies Advanced Analytics to Data with Comptel" - here.

Brocade Announces Open Mobile Network Visibility

Brocade announced new "NETWORK VISIBILITY solutions and a partner ecosystem to empower mobile network operators with critical insights into the traffic within their networks, while also transitioning their visibility infrastructures from being closed and monolithic to software-enabled, open, and disaggregated.

The Brocade® Network Visibility product family includes:

• Brocade MLXe Packet Brokers (starting at $250,000) and Brocade ICX® Packet Broker (starting at$33.000): A comprehensive family of packet brokers to address the wide range of density, performance, and programmability needs of Tier-1 mobile operators

• Brocade Virtual Packet Broker: The industry's first full-featured, virtual TAP/packet broker for vEPC environments
   
• Brocade Session Director (starting at $300,000): Software-based separation of mobile control flow processing in the visibility network to deliver maximum scalability, real-time programmability of packet brokers, and enhanced network intelligence
   
• Brocade Packet Probes: Software-based, scalable, wire-speed packet processing engines that decode and reduce mobile bearer and control traffic to extract and deliver essential metadata required by network monitoring and analytics solutions
  
• Brocade Visibility Manager (starting at $50,000) : A single-pane-of-glass management application for the entire Brocade Network Visibility solution
   
• Open APIs: Application programming interfaces between Brocade and third-party components to help ensure freedom of choice at each layer of the visibility infrastructure

To accelerate adoption and foster innovation in network visibility and analytics solutions, Brocade is building a diverse partner ecosystem. Launching with Viavi Solutions, EMC, Guavus, and Avvasi, the Brocade Network Visibility partner ecosystem aims to provide greater choice and value for mobile operators through best-in-class solutions and third-party interoperability at every layer of the visibility infrastructure:. 

See "Brocade Disrupts the Traditional Network Visibility Market With Comprehensive New IP Solution" - here.

Openwave Demoed Optimization (40% lower bitrate) for Live Gaming Broadcasts

Openwave Mobility announced that it ".. successfully showcased optimization of live-gaming broadcast traffic via sites including YouTube Gaming and Twitch for a Tier 1 European operator. Openwave Mobility is the first to use quality-aware traffic management for live-gaming broadcasts. The company lowered bitrates by over 40% for YouTube Gaming and Twitch while maintaining an excellent QoE for subscribers.

Indranil Chatterjee [pictured], VP of Product Management, Marketing & Strategy, Openwave Mobility explaineds: “Live-gaming streams are far more data demanding than VoD. And they can consume considerable bandwidth. That’s bad news for operators and a bad experience for the gaming fans. Operators are struggling to deal with the phenomenal growth in video – and now most of that is encrypted too. That’s another headache. For cost conscious subscribers, higher bandwidth means higher data bills. That’s where our innovative technology comes in”.

See "Openwave Mobility First to Use Quality-Aware Optimization for Live Gaming Broadcasts" - here.

LG to Integrate Giraffic Video Optimization to Smart TV

Meir Orbach reported to Calcalist (here, Hebrew) that "LG will integrates Giraffic video optimization technology in its smart TV product line to enable 4K streaming". 

Giraffic’s multi-patented client-side AVA™ technology overcomes Internet bottlenecks from source to glass, enabling devices to actively control Internet streaming quality.Smart TVs, IP STBs, Tablets and smartphones with Giraffic AVA™ software provide a faster and smoother streaming experience from any internet content source on the end-user’s existing internet connection. Giraffic’s patents on multi-source streaming, congestion control, dynamic maximization of HTTP communication throughout, predictive buffering and network shaping overcomes internet bandwidth limits

Yoel Zanger [pictured], Giraffic CEO told Calcalist: "We understood that great technology (see "New Start-up Promises X2 Faster Video Streaming with 'Crowd CDN'", here) does not always trun into a revenue generating business model. We need to go after those who can and willing to pay. Therefore, 3 years ago, we made a change in our direction. The content and smart devices domain goes to 4K resolution, but the internet infrastructure cant provide the required quality to the home user".

 

A real network monitor view of a typical Giraffic accelerated stream: averaging 3X higher throughput, and smoother QoS

DigitalRoute Adds REST API for KPI Management

DigitalRoute announced the ".. launch of KPI Management, a product extension that accompanies the just released v7.2 release. KPI Management adds value to DigitalRoute’s OSS Mediation by enabling a programmatic approach to create multi-dimensional KPI’s . The user will be able configure hierarchies, metrics and operators via an open API together with multi-level thresholds to trigger actions, e.g. alarms.

Its RESTful APIs support self-sufficiency, meaning new KPI service models can be spun up quickly and cost effectively. It also ensures new performance measurement points can be easily implemented"

See "DigitalRoute Launches KPI Management" - here.

Guavus Launches Big Data Analytics App for SPs

Guavus announced the ".. launch of Service Reflex 3: a big data analytics application that enables Service Providers to dynamically improve service quality and enhance customer experience by ingesting, fusing and contextualizing network impacting events with subscriber data in real time.

The application uniquely bridges the gap between Operation Support Systems (OSS) and Billing Support Systems (BSS), helping to: improve operations, reduce the cost of customer care and deliver an enhanced quality of experience.

New key innovations in Service Reflex 3 include support for:

QoE trend drill-down

• Actionable analytics: Anomaly detection, root cause analysis and commonality correlation to uncover previously undetectable, small-scale issues while reducing false negatives and non-service impacting alarms
   
• Health maps: Geographical representation of anomalies allows users to drill-down into root cause context for areas with abnormally high care and network-based events
   
• Improved segmentation for ad hoc analysis on cloud-based services: Real-time insights to continually improve change management processes and reduce testing time from days to hours
   
• Seamless integration with third- party incident management and trouble ticketing systems: Delivers a closed loop application for automated remediation for planned service upgrades, definition scope and change management based on anomaly detection

Geographic health map 

• Performance monitoring: Identifies the impact of outage & maintenance events, software upgrades, etc. on customers and quickly sends alerts for high impact events
   
• Workforce management & field operations: Provides a holistic view of network and care events and identifies when issues can be corrected at the network level to eliminate unnecessary, costly truck rolls; allows technicians to more efficiently address in-home issues the first time and reduce repeat visits; and delivers key insights into technician performance for KPIs, such as on-time rate, in-home test successes and repeat issue rates

See "Guavus Redefines Service Operations Analytics with Launch of Service Reflex 3" - here.

Savvius Introduces Network Performance Monitoring Appliance

Savvius Insight

Savvius announced "Savvius Insight a mini network appliance that delivers vital network performance and security information. 
  
Priced at $1,500 and the size of a small trade paperback, Savvius Insight includes Savvius OmniPeek® network performance management software for monitoring and local or remote troubleshooting and Splunk® Forwarder to send network analytics to Splunk Enterprise™ or Splunk Cloud™. Performing network analytics locally and in real time".

[Related post: "Savvius Adds Application Classification with Procera's DPI" - here]

"Enterprise and Service Providers extending multi-segment analysis and visibility from the data center to the network edge, including remote and distributed offices or customer locations.

OmniPeak Packet level analysis

• 100 megabit-class network.
• Savvius Insight uses an external power adapter and has no moving parts.
• Four-core Intel Atom processor with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD.
• Pre-loaded, tested, and fully integrated Savvius Capture Engine for OmniPeek™ running on Linux.
• Bi-directional bridge ports with automatic bypass for inline use.

See "Savvius™ Announces Savvius Insight™ for Performance Monitoring and Troubleshooting of Smaller Networks" - here.

NEC and NetCracker Released a Virtual IMS Solution for VoLTE

NEC Corporation and NetCracker Technology announced that they have ".. released a virtualized IP multimedia subsystem (vIMS) solution through their joint business brand, NEC/NetCracker SDN/NFV Solutions. The NFV-based vIMS solution offers both control and data plane functionalities of IMS for 3G mobile voice services (W-CDMA) and voice over LTE (VoLTE) services. It has successfully achieved the same service quality levels of those realized in a physical environment.

.. The vIMS solution provides users with high-quality VoLTE and high-definition video calling, leveraging general-purpose servers that share resources with other virtual network functions and IT functions. By virtualizing IMS, the vIMS solution can reduce service delivery and assurance costs while optimizing performance attributes such as quality of service and delay.

The vIMS leverages the technical functionality of NEC’s VoLTE solution. Demonstrating high availability and reliability for signaling and protocol handling and data processing, the VoLTE solution is operating live in commercial networks such as those provided by NTT DOCOMO".

See "NEC and NetCracker Release Virtualized IMS (vIMS) Solution" - here.

Concurrent Opens its Transparent Caching Solution

A year ago Concurrent announced that it "Enters the Fast Growing (30%+ CAGR) Transparent Cache Market" (here).

Not, the company decided to turn the offering into an open source. Concurrent announced that it will "open-source its transparent caching solution and launch a related suite of enterprise support services for commercial customers. Branded as Laguna™, Concurrent’s open-source transparent caching solution improves the quality of over-the-top (OTT) services like Netflix®, Hulu®, and Amazon Prime® TV, as well as dozens of other Internet content sources, by democratically caching popular content deep at the edge of service provider networks. This improves service quality, minimizes transit costs, and reduces overall network congestion"

Laguna integrates with Concurrent’s recently announced open-source content delivery network (CDN) solution, which is based on Apache Traffic Server™, Traffic Control, Ceph® storage, and Concurrent’s own software contributions. It also works with the company’s Unified Content Delivery Solution, a full-featured CDN solution for delivering commercial video services to set-top boxes and Internet connected devices".

The Laguna transparent caching solution helps service providers better manage network utilization by transparently caching popular Internet content within the service provider’s network. Once content is cached, consumer requests can be fulfilled using local server resources rather than accessing data through the Internet peering point. 

For the service provider, this reduces congestion on the IP network, lowers peering costs, and provides improved control over network utilization during peak usage periods. From a consumer perspective, transparent caching improves the quality and performance of OTT streaming services.

See "Concurrent Announces Open-Source Transparent Caching Solution" - here.

Allot Launches a Virtual Gateway and Services @200Gbps/Server

 

Allot Communications announced the "Allot Service Gateway-Virtual Edition and its portfolio of pre-integrated services. Together, they comprise a complete Allot Virtual Network Function (VNF) solution underpinning the company’s network functions virtualization (NFV) strategy aimed at easing service deployment and accelerating time-to-revenue for service providers. 

[related post: "[Infonetics]: Gradual Transition to NFV-Based DPI; Allot and Sandvine Lead the Market" - here]

".. To that end, a Tolly Performance Report published today verified that a single instance of an Allot Security VNF delivered performance on the brink of 200Gbps while inspecting traffic at wire speed and performing URL filtering"

[Related post: "Sandvine NFV Reaches 1.1 Tbps Throughput w/10 RU of Servers" - here]

"The Allot Service Gateway Virtual Edition’s underlying framework provides service enablement capabilities including application awareness, big data collection and mediation, multi-tenancy, anomaly detection, network integration and control plane integration. The services operating in conjunction with the framework fall into the following three categories: customer visibility, customer experience and customer protection. Each virtualized service is a standalone VNF which includes the respective services and the underlying framework with all aforementioned capabilities". 

See "Allot’s NFV Solution with Pre-Integrated Virtualized Services Leaps Deployment Barriers and Enables Unlimited Scalability" - here.

BITAG Recommends Differentiated Treatment Practices

BITAG (Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group - see "Plans for a New Forum: Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group"- here) announced the ".. publication of its technical report on the subject of Differentiated Treatment of Internet Traffic ..This report touches on a broad range of questions associated with differentiation, but is not intended to address or analyze the economic, legal, regulatory, or public policy issues that the differentiated treatment of Internet access service traffic may raise, focusing instead on the technical issues.

.. network operators make many exceptions to FIFO, using the packet header information to classify packets into flows and treating those flows differently, for example rearranging the order or the timing with which packets are sent, or sending them along different network paths". 

Among the contributors and reviewers to the report (see full list below), is Sandvine's CTO, Don Bowman - See - "Sandvine, Internet Leaders Achieve Consensus on Traffic Differentiation" - here.
"Observations:

• TCP causes recurring momentary congestion. 
• A nominal level of packet discard is normal. 
• The absence of differentiation does not imply comparable behavior among applications. Differentiated treatment can produce a net improvement in Quality of Experience (QoE). 
• Access technologies differ in their capabilities and characteristics. 
• Security of traffic has at times been downgraded to facilitate differentiation techniques. 

Recommendations:

• Network operators should disclose information on differential treatment of traffic. 
• Network operators and ASPs should be encouraged to implement efficient and adaptive network resource management practices. 
• Quality of Service metrics should be interpreted in the context of Quality of Experience. 
• Network operators should not downgrade, interfere with, or block user selected security in order to apply differentiated treatment". 

See "BITAG Publishes Report: Differentiated Treatment of Internet Traffic" - here.

Document Contributors and Reviewers: - Fred Baker, Cisco - Steven Bauer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Richard Bennett, American Enterprise Institute - Don Bowman, Sandvine - Lily Chen, Verizon - kc claffy, University of California, San Diego; Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) - David Clark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - David Cooper, Level 3 - Amogh Dhamdhere, University of California, San Diego; Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) - Amie Elcan, CenturyLink - Michael Fargano, CenturyLink - Nick Feamster, Princeton University - Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) - Kevin Kleinsmith, Union Wireless - Ken Ko, ADTRAN - Gary Langille, EchoStar - Matt Larsen, Vistabeam - Jason Livingood, Comcast - Patrick McManus, Mozilla - Chris Morrow, Google - Barbara Stark, AT&T - Matthew Tooley, National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) - Jason Weil, Time Warner Cable - Greg White, CableLabs - David Winner, Charter Communication

Google & Partners Introduce "Accelerated Mobile Pages"

Yet another component in Google's effort to make the internet faster.

Google's Official Blog announced that "after discussions with publishers and technology companies around the world, we’re announcing a new open source initiative called Accelerated Mobile Pages, which aims to dramatically improve the performance of the mobile web". 

Some of the other Google optimization projects:

• Google's Introduces New Compression Algorithm  - here
• Google (regretfully) Shuts Down PageSpeed and Recommends 10+ Alternatives  - here
• Google Chrome New Compression Proxy Reduces Data by 50%  - here
• Google Optimizes Web sites and Brings CDN Serivce to the Masses - here
• Google [Still] Claims there is a Faster TCP - here

"We want webpages with rich content like video, animations and graphics to work alongside smart ads, and to load instantaneously. We also want the same code to work across multiple platforms and devices so that content can appear everywhere in an instant—no matter what type of phone, tablet or mobile device you’re using.
 
The project relies on AMP HTML, a new open framework built entirely out of existing web technologies, which allows websites to build light-weight webpages. To give you a sense of what a faster mobile web might look like, we’ve developed this demo on Google Search:

Over time we anticipate that other Google products such as Google News will also integrate AMP HTML pages. And today we’re announcing that nearly 30 publishers from around the world are taking part too.

This is the start of an exciting collaboration with publishers and technology companies, who have all come together to make the mobile web work better for everyone. Twitter, Pinterest, WordPress.com, Chartbeat, Parse.ly, Adobe Analytics and LinkedIn are among the first group of technology partners planning to integrate AMP HTML pages".

How do Accelerated Mobile Pages work?

Accelerated Mobile Pages are just like any other HTML page, but with a limited set of allowed technical functionality that is defined and governed by the open source AMP spec. Just like all web pages, Accelerated Mobile Pages will load in any modern browser or app webview. AMP files take advantage of various technical and architectural approaches that prioritize speed to provide a faster experience for users. The goal is not to homogenize how content looks and feels, but instead to build a more common technical core between pages that speeds up load times.

In addition, AMP files can be cached in the cloud in order to reduce the time content takes to get a user’s mobile device. Under this type of framework, publishers continue to control their content, but platforms can easily cache or mirror the content for optimal delivery speed users. Google has stated that it will provide a cache that can be used by anyone at no cost, though the cache (Google's or otherwise) is not required. Other companies may build their own cache as well.

In summary, the goal is that that the combination of limited technical functionality with a distribution system built around caching will lead to better performing pages, and increased audience development for publishers.

See "Introducing the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, for a faster, open mobile web" - here.

Openwave Mobility Integrates Qosmos' DPI

Qosmos announced that "Openwave Mobility has embedded Qosmos ixEngine® into its Integra Layer 7 SDN/NFV platform, used by operators to orchestrate value added services for mobile data.
[related post - "Openwave Mobility: Federated SDM; Encrypted Traffic Optimization" - here]

Integra architecture 

.. Based on real-time traffic intelligence from Qosmos ixEngine, Integra manages mobile traffic (included encrypted) in different ways:

• Directing traffic to specific services like firewall, caching, or video optimization
   
• Blocking traffic in the case of suspected fraud or security threats
   
• Shaping and enforcing quality of service according to the application identified
   
• Understanding and managing quota and promotion based on application intelligence

See "Openwave Mobility Strengthens Integra Platform with Qosmos ixEngine" - here.

Sandvine CEO: We see IBM as a Big Part of Our Future

Sandvine published its Q3 results (revenues of $27.3 - here - as expected following its preliminary announcement). During the earning call, David Caputo, CEO made several references to the relations with IBM:

• "IBM was a 10% plus customer [see chart] in the quarter and sold product to three end customers. We also had one 10% plus end customer in the quarter. Together, these customers represented 24% of revenue in Q3. We have no 10% plus customers for the year-to-date, we remain pleased by this diversification.
  
  [Related post "Sandvine: IBM is a 10% Reseller with an "active pipeline of opportunities"  - here]
   
• Certainly we are excited that we closed three deals with IBM. We see them as a big part of our future in terms of someone who is looking to integrate best-of-breed solutions.
  
  We have certainly individual countries largely outside of North America we have localized partners that help us with supporting in local language and that sort of thing. 
  The IBM relationship is continuing to develop. In that, there were workshops recently on some business intelligence initiatives that they are looking to pitch and get trained on enough to do further integration to some of their solutions, but as you could see the mix to direct is a little bit more pronounced as we become a larger player, as we become more familiar with some of the larger customers outside of North America, some of them are feeling more comfortable to take that business direct with us as well". 

See "Sandvine's (SNVNF) CEO Dave Caputo on Q3 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript", by SeekingAlpha, here.

Astellia to Optimize Telefonica Group's RAN

Telefonica Group global presence 

Astellia announced that it has ".. entered a global framework agreement for RAN optimization with Telefónica .. the two-year framework agreement establishes Astellia as a qualified global supplier and enables any of Telefónica’s Operating Companies (OpCos) to benefit from Astellia’s solution and expertise in network optimization.

With this agreement, Telefónica reinforces its focus on making network quality a core component of its customer experience policy. Astellia’s radio optimization expertise in multi-techno, multi-vendor environments will help Telefónica prevent any quality degradation of their network and hence improve the customer experience". 

Astellia's  Nova RAN Optimizer is a multi-technology & multi-vendor radio optimization tool which uses network equipment Call Trace files to measure RF coverage & quality of the network. It facilitates daily radio optimization tasks by automating recurrent analysis and reduces drastically the number of drive tests.

Geo-located Radio Coverage

See "Astellia signs global framework agreement with Telefónica Group" - here.

ipoque New Net Reporter Doubles Analytics Capacity

ipoque announced it has "launched R&S Net Reporter 2 a versatile Internet traffic analytics platform that delivers twice as much analytics capacity than the previous version.

R&S Net Reporter 2 is a new release of the existing R&S Net Reporter software, which is the customer-facing element of ipoque’s traffic analytics solution for mobile, fixed and broadband operators. Information is presented to the user showing realtime subscriber behavior or generating trends of up to one year in duration from a whole network perspective down to individual subscriber level". 

New on R&S®Net Reporter 2:

• New Content Delivery Network (CDN) analytics 
• New video streaming analytics
• Extensive and flexible filtering, selection and drill-down options on data 
• New intuitive user interface
• The new qualitative analytics approach requires less hardware and delivers similar or better results than competing products – at a much more attractive price. It features short deployment times along with flexible options to customize the solution and integrate it with third-party systems such as CRMs or big data systems. Customers benefit from quick time-to-market for new business cases

See "ipoque releases R&S Net Reporter 2, a versatile analytics platform delivering actionable business intelligence to network operators and enabling a complete traffic analytics solution" - here.

Sandvine NFV Reaches 1.1 Tbps Throughput w/10 RU of Servers

Sandvine announced that "NFV Now a Reality for Operators of Any Size 

.. the Sandvine Policy Traffic Switch (PTS) Virtual Series has established a new Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) performance benchmark by achieving 1.1 Tbps of throughput performance.

.. The test conducted by Sandvine utilized a Dell™ PowerEdge™ M1000e Blade Enclosure, 14 Dell™ PowerEdge™ M630 Blade Servers, Intel® Xeon® processors E5 v3, Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapters X540 and X710, the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) providing exceptional packet processing performance, and the Intel® Open Network Platform Reference Architecture (Intel® ONP)". 

Related posts:

• Sandvine States 155 Gbps NFV Performance (Beats Procera by 5 Gbps) - here. 
• [Infonetics]: Gradual Transition to NFV-Based DPI; Allot and Sandvine Lead the Market  - here.

".. the 1.1 Tbps benchmark was achieved using a traffic mix that uses various packet sizes and flow-types which is representative of real-world network conditions. Additionally, each Dell PowerEdge M630 Blade Server utilized only one of its dual sockets, with the Intel® Xeon processor utilizing approximately 60% of its processing capability. This extra compute room ensures that it is possible for operators to implement the same advanced traffic measurements and intelligent broadband use cases that they have previously done on purpose built hardware.

See "Sandvine Virtual Series Achieves 1.1 Tbps of NFV Performance" - here.

Juniper Networks and Saguna Offer a Joint MEC Solution

Saguna announced its joint solution with Juniper Networks - "Juniper Networks and Saguna joined forces to create a complete, pre-integrated Mobile Edge Computing platform, one that delivers MEC functionality with the underlying system elements required for operation within the demanding radio access network (RAN) environment. 

This joint solution allows end-user applications to achieve high bandwidth with ultra-low latency by enabling service providers to deploy services closer to the edge network using an NFV-based cloud computing environment in the mobile RAN. 

The SRAN solution components include:

• Juniper Networks® ACX Series Universal Access Routers, MX Series 3D Universal Edge Routers and QFX Series Switches – These families of switches and routers have the ability to run a Hypervisor environment within them, allowing the MEC Platform Service, API layers and MEC Edge applications to run within the Juniper hardware in the pre-aggregation/IP-aggregation environment. The MEC Edge applications can also run on an external x86-based device.
   
• Juniper Networks vSRX - To ensure security within the sensitive RAN environment, Juniper Networks vSRX (virtual SRX) acts as a Security Gateway for terminating IPsec tunnels from the RAN and an originator to the centralized Security Gateway. The product also provides Firewall / NAT functions for any user traffic that needs to be offloaded locally.
   
• Juniper Networks Contrail Networking – The cloud network automation platform enables mobile operators to manage the MEC platform and Edge applications from a central location. New applications and services can be enabled or disabled on demand, delivering the primary benefits of an SDN overlay network.
   
• Saguna Open-RAN – Saguna’s MEC platform is a fully virtualized software solution. The MEC standard-based platform creates an open ecosystem for 3rd party MEC applications enabling mobile operators to expand their offering as new MEC services are brought to market. It also supports user mobility and core functionality including charging, policy control and lawful interception to ensure seamless integration into existing mobile network architectures.
  

Saguna Open-RAN

See "Juniper Networks and Saguna’s Service Aware RAN Solution Receives Award at Mobile Edge Computing Congress 2015" - here.

Juniper Research: OTT Voice to See Significant Revenue Rise (5X by 2020)

TelecomLead reports that "OTT voice providers are expected to generate more than $10 billion in service revenues by 2020, representing a 5-fold increase over the next 5 years. Juniper Research said OTT application providers such as Skype and WhatsApp would experience a significant rise in traffic and revenue potential as 4G network roll-outs accelerate, increasing their capability to offer VoIP (voice over IP) calls.

As most mVoIP services were offered as a free or low cost service, a small minority of OTT players had generated a significant revenues from the service.

Because of sharp decline in voice revenues as a result of OTT voice activity, traditional operators have adopted new business models by offering functionality such as VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and Wi-Fi calling through the mobile handset"

See "OTT voice providers to generate $10 bn revenues by 2020" - here.

Digicel: DPI is a Catalyst for VAS Revenues Increase

The Digicel Group (operating communication services in 31 countries to 13.6 million subscribers) has filed for an IPO recently with the SEC (here). The group is a Sandvine customer ("How does DigiCel Use Sandvine?" here and here) and explains in the F-1 form the benefits of DPI:

"Mobile Data and VAS

..VAS is an increasingly important portion of Digicel’s revenue, rising from 23.0% of its total mobile service revenue in the year ended March 31, 2013 to 31.2% in the year ended March 31, 2015 and 33.9% in the three months ended June 30, 2015. The increase in VAS has tracked an increase in availability of affordable smartphones, including Digicel-branded Android devices

.. An important catalyst for the increase in VAS has been Digicel’s innovative product and service offerings which include:

• Service-based packages: Digicel’s data offers have evolved from volume based pricing to charging by service. Digicel’s deep packet inspection platform allows it to price plans based on the specific service that subscribers are consuming as opposed to volume-based pricing.
  
  Digicel is able to offer subscribers data plans that provide access only to one particular site, such as Facebook or Instagram. This capability has allowed Digicel to launch new plans across markets with a range of data allowances along with access to particular websites.
  
  This makes Digicel’s plans more attractive to subscribers because they can more easily understand what they are getting, and it allows Digicel to differentiate its plans from competitors.
   
• Free access to Wikipedia [here]: Digicel allows all Digicel subscribers free access to this widely-known source of information on the Internet. Every time a subscriber accesses Wikipedia on the Digicel network, there is a small banner at the top of the page that tells the subscriber that access to the page is provided free of charge courtesy of Digicel.
  
  Digicel believes this is a strong marketing tool and it also benefits Digicel’s subscribers in terms of free access to this information. This represents an opportunity to illustrate to Digicel’s subscribers the value of the Internet by showcasing the type of services that subscribers can access with an Internet subscription and is designed to encourage Internet penetration.

Teridion Promises 20x End User Internet Performance Improvement; Raised $20M

Teridion announced:

• general availability of its advanced Global Cloud Network to provide up to 20x performance improvement for enduser generated bi-directional Internet content. The company’s solution is currently being used by more than 15 companies spanning some of the most bandwidth-demanding applications and services, such as hosting and file sharing, rich media and advertising.
   
• Total of $20 million in funding, having closed a $15 million Series B round of financing led by Singtel Innov8. Existing investors JVP and Magma also participated in the round. 

Elad Rave [pictured], founder and CEO, Teridion said. “We are breaking down these boundaries and providing users with a seamless Internet experience – no matter their location, device or application. It’s our goal for our SaaS customers to be able to generate additional customer loyalty, and the funding and general availability of our product are major steps in this direction.” 

Designed for bi-directional, user-generated Internet content, Teridion features: 

• The Teridion Global Cloud Network – Bringing intelligent routing to the cloud. Proprietary algorithms and the Teridion Management System, in conjunction with Teridion Measurement Agents, provide a real-time congestion map of the Internet to find the best possible path, taking into account bandwidth, latency and geography

• High performance, low latency – Up to 20x Internet performance improvements, enabling users to rethink what’s possible online
     
• Unparalleled flexibility – Teridion Cloud Routers are created on demand, providing scalability and enabling users to only pay for the resources consumed. The solution works with the largest cloud providers in the world to ensure the speed and reliability of traffic, without requiring customers to leave their cloud provider
    
• Bolstered security – Teridion does not cache users’ data, and end-to-end SSL encryption with no termination secures data across the network
    
• Simple onboarding – With no hardware or software to install, and quick and easy provisioning, a typical cloud customer can be connected to the network in under an hour"

See "Teridion Announces $20M in Total Funding to Speed Up Internet Performance by Up to 20 Times" - here.

Qosmos and NetSTAR Integrate DPI and URL Categorization Enabling Technologies

NetSTAR and Qosmos announced a ".. strategic partnership that will simplify the integration of NetSTAR’s inCompass® URL categorization and web security technology with the Qosmos ixEngine® 

..hardware vendors, software vendors, solution providers, operators, and service providers will be able to quickly and easily exploit the full power of Qosmos DPI technology .. combined with NetSTAR’s ability to categorize over 98% of all URL (http/https) traffic in one of over 180 different categories as well as over 12 different securities categories including malware, botnets, infected sites, spyware, phishing and spam". 

NetSTAR Self-operated URL research center

See "Qosmos and NetSTAR, an ALSI Group Company, Announce Plans to Combine Qosmos’ ixEngine Deep Packet Inspection Technology with NetSTAR’s inCompass URL Categorization and Security Technology" - here.