Broadband-aware Applications Increase Network Congestion

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications such as Kazaa, eDonkey or Winny are creating broadband consumption and link management issues for IP service providers. It's estimated that over 70% of network traffic is attributed to P2P file sharing. P2P allows users to share large data files directly with other users anywhere on an IP network. Subscribers can download a variety of P2P clients for use on a service provider's network, which are not controlled by the network operator.

The problem is exacerbated as file sizes move from megabyte-oriented music downloads to gigabyte-oriented full-length movies. P-Cube's Service Engines, and service applications, Engage and Encharge, are designed to increase network visibility and give carriers the tools they need to increase operational efficiency and profit from service delivery. (See P-Cube's White Paper: Controlling P2P Bandwidth Consumption)

P2P can cause massive traffic peaks and unexpected strain on network resources that results in:

• Poor customer satisfaction due to a degraded broadband experience for all subscribers

• A need to upgrade expensive backbone links

• Inability to effectively detect, monitor or control P2P with conventional equipment

• Increase in transit monthly payments due to surges in peak bandwidth and total volume

Service Providers Add Capacity Needlessly

Often a service provider responds by adding links and building overall capacity to meet perceived customer demand. This results in dramatically escalating operational costs without any commensurate increase in revenue. Especially since P2P applications are designed to consume all available bandwidth. The effect is multiplicative.

P-Cube's Manages P2P and Enhances Overall Subscriber Experience

P-Cube's Service Engines running Engage are specifically designed to address P2P problems and so much more. Its programmable application and protocol detection system is not only able to detect P2P traffic but control any of its variants. As new P2P protocols appear, the programmable nature of P-Cube's solution ensures providers can rapidly respond to new variations. Engage can analyze and control P2P traffic at Gigabit wire-speed for up to 100,000 subscribers or 2 million flows.

Figure 1 demonstrates how providers have used P-Cube's Service Control Platform to throttle down P2P traffic and reduce network transport costs while maintaining or enhancing the subscriber experience. Since P2P runs constantly in the background all performance on foreground applications were measurably improved for all subscribers.

Figure 1

The optimization of application traffic can be done by:

• Type of application
• Time of Day
• On-net vs. Off-net
• Local vs. International
• According to other provider policy dissemination

Engage provides a powerful capability to manage network assets at an unmatched level of granularity.

P-Cube's Service Engine family running service applications such as Engage is specifically designed to help providers identify, classify, guarantee performance and charge for an unlimited array of IP or content-based service offerings running across existing transport. (See P-Cube's White Paper: Approaches to Controlling P2P Traffic - Technical Brief for NCTA)