XO uses DPI for app performance management

XO Communications today unveiled a service that uses deep packet inspection (DPI) at the edge of its network to tell enterprise customers how their applications are performing over their Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks. The new service generates additional revenue for XO of $150 per connection while showing customers exactly how bandwidth is being consumed and enabling them to more easily identify and troubleshoot application problems.

XO views the new service as a major differentiation point in its competition with other MPLS services. “Our customers are very excited about this, the response has been strong,” said Brent Spooner, director of product marketing for data services at XO. “I think most people are providing very basic-level reporting – up/down status, bandwidth usage, not that there aren’t some of our other competitors that partner with [DPI provider] Fluke [Networks] as well. I don’t think they package it like we’ve packaged it and are in the marketplace like we are. This will be integral to our MPLS VPN offer, embedded within the whole MPLS/VPN product, which is a different approach, and marketing will be different.”

The applications performance management service uses Fluke’s Visual Uptime Select probes that sit on the customers’ premises at the edge of XO’s wide area network and use DPI to examine each packet in real time and identify what it is carrying, Spooner said. “They capture that information and relay that information back to the server platform, by which the customer has access to summaries and reports and different views of that information through a Web portal that can be accessed through any browser. What the customer sees is real-time data.”

The reports are detailed, Spooner added. “That is, from a high level, they include everything from just Layer-1 fault management and data on the access or T-1s or DS-3s all the way up to visibility into Layer 7 into the applications that are running across that network, how much bandwidth they are using, what the performance of applications is, what class of service applications are tagged to and riding within, very detailed visibility into the performance of the customers’ applications,” Spooner said.

When an application isn’t performing properly, Spooner said, it isn’t always obvious whether the problem exists at the server level or in the network. This new applications performance management service will make those kinds of distinctions obvious.

“For instance, IT has a CRM [customer relationship management] application, and maybe he has sales offices on an MPLS VPN that use that CRM app,” Spooner said. “Those guys call up to the IT help desk – this application is running really slow. Without much view into whether there is a bandwidth issue, maybe there’s an issue with the CRM server. And without visibility into the network, you can’t tell. With this service, you could quickly look into an application performance management panel and see that link into the sales office.”

The panel can indicate that some other application, perhaps even something unauthorized, is using up the entire remote office link and identify what kind of traffic is doing that and the IP address from which it’s coming.