Zeugma launches smart apps

Equipment vendor Zeugma Systems today announced the first in a promised series of applications for its Zeugma Services Node, a services delivery router that puts intelligence for managing services at the edge of the network. The Zeugma Smart Series is built on the Zeugma Open Applications Sandbox, announced last spring when Zeugma first launched its ZSN.

The first application is Smart Video, a capability service providers can use to offer consumers a premium service that guarantees the quality of Internet video they download over their broadband pipes. The service works by leveraging the intelligence at the ZSN to recognize when Internet traffic contains video and to deliver a guaranteed quality of service to that traffic.

“When we first announced the Zeugma Services Node, we said that on top of the massive computing grid, we were providing an applications sandbox, and we actually sell a software development kit (SDK) so that any number of applications can be developed and marketed by Zeugma, by third parties or even service providers,” said Kevin Walsh, vice president of marketing for Zeugma. “We are now providing as part of our product set the Smart Series Applications Suite.”

Walsh has long argued that while consumers might balk at the notion of bandwidth caps or restrictions in how they can use their broadband service, they would be willing to pay more for an upgraded service. Smart Video accomplishes this by only using more bandwidth when video downloads are detected, allowing service providers to conserve bandwidth at other times while still giving consumers the higher quality they want.

“Service providers can market a service that provides premium Internet video services to their customers,” Walsh said.

Zeugma will be announcing other applications shortly, he added.

Smart Video is made possible by multiple capabilities within the Zeugma Services Node including the use of deep session inspection technology, similar to deep packet inspection, to look at all downstream subscriber traffic and identify the beginning of streaming video sessions. SmartVideo then uses policy determination to identify subscribers who have paid for the premium video service, determines if the appropriate network resources are available to deliver video quality of service and dynamically reserves the bandwidth required for the duration of the subscriber session. SmartVideo also monitors quality of experience, so what the viewer sees is similar to that of a DVD player.