Managing the Bandwidth Beast

By Steven Getz, CrossKeys Systems Corporation

It is predicted that more than 30 million homes will have digital subscriber line (DSL), or cable modem service by 2004, and in addition, will find fast connections via satellite dish. The market for bandwidth-management products will reach $1.1 billion by 2002, predicts a new study by Bear, Stearns & Co. Internet service providers (ISPs) need to meet the customer demand of fast and reliable service.

Many of today’s ISPs find themselves managing broadband. Sometimes managing this "beast" can be very overwhelming. Providing Internet service use to be a predictable business and technical model. This model has changed with the mass deployment of high-speed Internet access devices, and bandwidth-hungry Internet applications (e.g., Napster). Throwing bandwidth at the Internet connection to solve the problem only makes it worse; more bandwidth today, may not be enough tomorrow. Subscribers will just consume the available bandwidth.

Currently, the problem that exists is a monopolization of bandwidth by aggressive users; inconsistent, unreliable service for all subscribers; costly over-provisioning to meet peek bandwidth demands; complex networks with too many platforms; and interfaces and erosion of service profitability.

Imposing controls is the only practical answer to deal with the bandwidth beast. Imposing controls that ensure that each subscriber only uses its share of bandwidth will actually increase the ISP’s revenues.

Broadband services management products are an effective method to impose controls, while creating and controlling unlimited tiers of service; providing real-time and historical insight into service performance; and capable of providing a single management interface regardless of transport mediums (i.e., DSL, wireless, cable, satellite, leased-line, Ethernet). New traffic-shaping devices not only promise to prevent Napster and similar bandwidth hogs from overwhelming campus and corporate networks, but also will help ISPs manage traffic in current, and future opportunities.

It is estimated that there will be 16 million broadband subscribers by 2002. Today’s broadband ISP delivers one or more broadband access services directly to customers. Over-subscription has traditionally been the business model for ISPs and will remain the business model for ISPs, as a necessity to make money. Over provisioning has been their recent response to customer complaints. Over provisioning is unsustainable, unprofitable and unnecessary if they apply broadband services management software. Managing broadband services – especially allocating and controlling bandwidth – is the single greatest challenge service providers face. The challenges of broadband management is building the network infrastructure, provisioning capacity, managing the network, attracting, provisioning and managing subscribers, delivering consistent, reliable service, and building service profitability.

Building owners have a unique opportunity in broadband access. They own the real estate; therefore generally own the access method as well. Currently, access either comes over the cable line or the phone line. The opportunity for the building owners is to satisfy the huge demand for broadband access from their occupants in a manner that is profitable and satisfying to the broadband consumer. In the process of offering broadband access to their occupants, they also add tremendous value to their property assets.

There exists for building owners an untapped market for providing broadband services management as a value-add to their Internet service. The market for broadband services management software will skyrocket once ISPs start aggressively entering this market. Once the ISP implements broadband services management software into its service, the subscriber can then enjoy reliable high-speed Internet access and other value-added data/voice services at a reasonable price. Each subscriber gets the service they pay for.

Currently, broadband services management products do exist on the market. These products address the ISPs’ need to provide reliable service. A broadband services management product needs to be dynamic, scaleable, and designed for broadband service providers.

This international market opportunity has explosive growth projections, with problems requiring immediate solutions, and offering ISPs the opportunity to offer reliable service while maintaining customers.

If the ISP is experiencing aggressive subscribers who monopolize bandwidth, then a broadband services management software will help the ISP enforce service agreements, while monitoring and shaping traffic at individual and aggregate points. In addition, the ISP will be able to adjust transfer and priority rates dynamically, and use traffic statistics to guide provisioning decisions.

According to the Building Office Management Association, there are approximately 750,000 multi-tenant commercial buildings in the United States. In addition, National Multi-Housing Council (NMHC) statistics indicate that the United States is home to 21 million apartment units. These statistics show the overwhelming need for providers to provide fast Internet service along with reliable service.

While today’s last-mile technologies can effectively deliver high-speed data, they do not address the needs of multi-tenant units (MTUs). Millions of people live and/or work in MTUs, which includes apartment complexes, university dormitories, hospitals, shopping malls, military bases, business parks, and hotels. These subscribers remain largely unsatisfied.

Providers want to enter the new markets with value-add services. They can achieve these objectives by serving the MTUs. MTUs provide the potential for new customers. Providers can then create new revenue stream and gain market share.

Existing and emerging products make it easy and cost-effective to deliver high-speed access to MTUs by leveraging the existing infrastructure of the building. Service providers need to look at Internet access as just one piece of their overall service offering. Offering value-added services makes providers differentiate themselves and generate incremental revenue.

The bottom line – the broadband services management software will shape traffic; eliminate congestion which means reduced packet loss; enable tier services; and provide real-time and historical reporting.

Reliable and consistent service remains to be a problem for ISPs. Old solutions of throwing bandwidth no longer work, and are expensive. The plan of attack is for the ISP to find a broadband service management product that adds value, and profit, while keeping subscribers happy. New traffic-shaping devices promise to prevent bandwidth hogs from overwhelming the ISP. The available products allow the user to just point and click using a Web-based interface to monitor all network traffic. A range of products is available to help ISPs deal with the crunch.

Steve Getz is Vice President of Broadband Access Products, CrossKeys Systems Corporation. The author may be reached with questions or comments via email at steve.getz@crosskeys.com

"The issue of the 12 GHz band was discussed at length with the regulators, but it was not directly impacted by this FCC rulemaking," continued Palle. "The idea is still pending in the FCC Cable Services Bureau. Yes, there would be benefits if we could use that spectrum, but there are serious limitations to its benefits. ICTA will continue to monitor the matter, but I think we need to hear from PCOs as to how useful that spectrum would really be for us.

"In summation, this is a clear victory, preventing a major blow to our industry. This would not have occurred if we did not have an industry organization. PCOs, MDUs and manufacturers would not even have known about this threat if we did not have ICTA. The members of our association were coordinated thorough the ICTA. Our work included numerous complicated filings of documents, we raised the money to pay for a lawyer, we monitored the FCC for two years, we joined a very useful coalition and we persisted. None of that would have happened without the ICTA. We need to learn from this lesson and build on it. Goodness knows there will be many more battles like this in the future."

"It’s also worth noting that after we spent all of our legal funds on phase one of this project that ICTA and its members carried on without outside legal counsel and prepared all the documents, did all the lobbying and attended all the negotiating sessions," said Bryan Rader. "The R & O is good news for our industry; the fact that we succeeded is even more important for our future."

Mr. Pallé and his associate Cliff Fox have graciously offered to address questions about the FCC action and the future of microwave transmission. They can be reached via e-mail at bpalle@blondertongue.com or via telephone at (732) 679-4000.

William J. Burhop is the Executive Director of the Independent Cable and Telecommunications Association (ICTA). The ICTA is the leading trade association representing cable and telecommunications companies serving the multihousing industry. The author may be reached with questions or comments via email at

bburhop@icta-online.org.