Service Control Technologies for P2P Traffic in next generation networks

1. Service Control Technologies for P2P Traffic in next generation networks Lior Gendel lior@cisco.com Manager, Technical Marketing

2. Introduction • A brief history of P2P • Napster, a bit too centralised for the lawyers! • Emerge of “self organising” systems • Gnutella and KaZaA • The future of P2P • Early signs in “legal” content distribution • The impact of P2P on the network • Traffic Load, Traffic Pattern • What can we do today? • Monitor • Optimize • Cache • Package and Up Sell

3. P2P Platforms – Consumer • Popularity of P2P clients depend on geography • Many of the existing P2P sites provide content of all types • Often these are ridden with spy / adware or viruses as the system is not ‘closed’ • Skype gets popularity for Voice, Video and Data • Many (sites & users) are under close legal scrutiny • Several sites have been specifically targeted by the authorities and closed • End user experience is often very poor and content quality suspect

4. P2P Platforms – ‘Legal’ • BitTorrent is gaining respectability, but still under close scrutiny • Most platforms do not have a focus on service providers • Some ‘Legal’ platforms (Redswoosh / Kontiki) appear to be offering their software under license to distribute content. These are some entertainment focused solutions. • Acceptance by content providers is limited • Limited capabilities beyond just P2P platform i.e. Mobile, STB Client, Media Centre integration, VoIP etc • No guarantee's on customer experience

5. Network Usage by Traffic Type Traffic Distribution Patterns

6. P2P Platforms Internet P2P Traffic BitTorrent eDonkey2000 FastTrack Gnutella Skype Winny Share Top Ten Digital Music Services WinMX iTunes LimeWire Kazaa BearShare Ares Galaxy Napster Morpheus Real Player Store iMesh

7. What Do We Download? Movies Songs Images Source: Leibowitz, N., Ripeanu, M., Wierzbicki, A. “Desconstructing the KaZaA network”

8. Highlight: Top 20 Subscribers consume 60% of Bandwidth Service Provider Pain Points From P2P • How can SPs minimize these pains without noticeably worsening the user experience and low additional CapEx? • High IXC transit tolls • Network congestion driven by high P2P traffic load during peak usage hours and access points • Potential exposure to litigation Highlight: 91%-97% of the traffic is P2P

9. P2P Traffic Patterns and Composition... • The popularity of P2P traffic is causing network capacity issues for providers not only because of total amount of traffic, but also due to its unique nature (compared to ‘traditional applications’ – browsing, mail)

10. Unlikely P2P Traffic Management Methods • Do Nothing Option • Almost 80% of service providers today are considering some sort of proactive strategy to deal with the problem. • Transit fees and performance becoming major issues, service providers recognize they cannot ignore this. • Caching Solutions • Demise of Inktomi is a clear indication of how successful caching is for this type of content. Bell Canada used to rely heavily on caches as little as two years ago, they have all since been removed from their network as not being worth the cost due to a lack of effectiveness. • Larger service providers link P2P caching with copy protected content or content indices running inside equipment they own as a potentially serious legal liability that is not attractive. • There are several vendors who provide caching equipment, but not big install base…

11. Likely P2P Traffic Management Methods • Service Control • Conditionally Block P2P • By either outright blocking specific protocol ports or tracking the TCP sessions with content switches with intent to block P2P. Variations exist on this theme based on certain time of day, origin of GET request, etc. • Traffic Shaping: Both Symmetrical and Asymmetrical • Symmetrical = both directions, asymmetrical only subscribers initiating GETs from other ISPs inward. • Filter: Enforce Acceptable Fair Use Policy (AFU) • “Abusers” get notified that they either no longer qualify for residential package and get moved to higher price option and/or additional per MB charges over a certain traffic cap are applied. • Redirect: Policy Optimize P2P to the Service Provider Network • Give the P2P network a dynamically learned understanding of the underlying Layer 3 network such we will always intentionally try to find the requested resource internally on the ISP first.

12. Application Awareness Stateful Deep-Packet Application Inspection Programmability to Support New Applications and New Business Requirements Service Velocity Subscriber Intelligence Subscriber State Management —Per-Subscriber BW Management, Quota and OSS Integration (via DHCP and RADIUS Integration) Technology Technology Application Session-Level Bandwidth Shaping, Blocking, Redirecting (HTTP, RSTP, SIP) Real-Time Control What Is “Service Control”?

13. Subscriber Rules & Actions Process of Service Control • Intelligent Inspection & Control of IP packets • …Classify to end-user application • …Map to subscriber identity, policy & state • …Take action • Focused on requirements of broadband service providers Mark block redirect Application Set QoS

14. Deployment/Application Lifecycle Phases of a Service Control Deployment: • Objectives: Monitor traffic distribution and usage patterns • Network topology: Receive only 1 Usage Analysis • Objectives: Improve network experience and reduce operational expense • Network topology: Active mode Global Traffic Optimization 2 Subs Profile • Objectives: Service creation, subscriber differentiation billing and value-added services • Integrated into back office (AAA, billing, Policy-Server) Subscriber Service Creation 3 DHCP Policy AAA Portal

15. Actual Customer Data Service Control: Usage Analysis • eDonkey and BitTorrent are Running in Background (Non-Interactive Service) and Need Some Control • 66% of Active Subscribers Use P2P • Skype Volumes Are Very Significant

16. Reduced Transit Costs More BW for Interactive Apps = Improved Performance, Reduced Support and Churn Service Control: Peer to Peer Management Video Web P2P Improved Customer Experience and Network Costs • Subscriber friendly P2P management policies • Reduce congestion to improve end-user experience • Savings on CAPEX, OPEX and Transit costs • Savings on call-center and customer churn

17. Service Control Leverages Existing Network Investment Same transit capacity can accommodate more subscribers, requiring fewer capacity increases as subscriber base grows

18. Summary • P2P drives Broadband adoption – but needs to be managed intelligently • P2P optimization results in immediate opex/capex savings • Intelligent management of P2P traffic can actually improve customer satisfaction by providing a consistent service experience. • Partnering with Legal P2P content providers allow additional ARPU Service Control = Analyze, Control & Profit!