"With the proliferation of Internet applications, such as P2P file sharing and content delivery, VoIP, video, and gaming, broadband providers face new challenges in managing network efficiency, security and quality of service," said Allot CEO and President, Rami Hadar. "They seek opportunities to offer customers value-added services based on these applications. With the Service Gateway, Allot provides the first DPI-based platform that not only meets the growing need for speed and functionality, but also enables integration of VAS capabilities into a common platform which truly allows deployment of new revenue-generating services."
The Allot Service Gateway is the industry's first open, standards-based platform for broadband service control and optimization based on Layer-7 DPI. It is based on an AdvancedTCA-compliant chassis with modular, hot-swappable DPI blades. A single platform provides four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, that manage two 10 Gigabit Ethernet lines, supporting more than 20 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of traffic.
The product brings these essential performance and DPI capabilities together in a unified framework. Within the Service Gateway, the application and subscriber information for each traffic flow is identified by a single DPI process that can then dispatch the flow to an array of additional services and actions. These actions may include traffic prioritization and Quality of Service (QoS) optimization, filtering (including Parental Control), blocking security threats (Clean Line and Denial of Service prevention) or collecting records for real-time charging or offline usage-based charging.
"Service providers are increasing investment in deep packet inspection technology to enforce application-specific policies designed to maximize network efficiency, create new services and ensure high-quality user experiences," said Mark Bieberich, Vice President at Yankee Group. "In response to these demand drivers, vendors must augment product portfolios to support rapid adoption of premium Internet services and execute mainstay DPI functions such as P2P traffic control, network monitoring, and prevention of security threats."
By utilising a standard, carrier-grade platform, Allot aims to enable the integration of VAS applications into the Service Gateway, where they can be governed by a unified policy management system and protected by built-in redundancy on all functions in the gateway. The ability of the value-added services to leverage the gateway's common DPI process and single point of integration with the operator's OSS and subscriber management environment should reduce the complexity and cost of new service deployment.
"Allot recognizes the difficulty and inefficiency that Tier-1 and Tier-2 service providers currently face when interfacing and integrating with a multitude of proprietary vendor equipment all using different standards, different interfaces, and different policy management systems," said Hadar. "We believe the integration and service synergy of the Allot Service Gateway provides a compelling solution to bring together best-in-class capabilities on one platform."
Investment protection is built into the platform's modular design, which offers pay-as-you grow deployment with different price-points for different levels of performance and throughput. All blades are field-upgradeable, with an integral hardware bypass to ensure no downtime during maintenance or upgrade procedures. The Allot Service Gateway also leverages Allot's powerful NetXplorer centralized management software and it is fully integrated with the Allot Subscriber Management Platform.