What the telecom industry will do about DPI

“This technology was originally intended for service providers, but the marketplace has all of a sudden brought attention that we had never expected,” Jungck said. “We are starting to change our focus – we need to help people understand what we are going. Consumers understand these things – how it is good and where it is not appropriate.”

ATIS, the U.S. organization focused on telecom standards, is also preparing to tackle DPI, through its Packet Technologies and Systems Committee (PTSC).

Allot, which incorporated DPI into a service gateway, is addressing the issues head on, said Cam Cullen, director of product marketing and product management, and isn’t seeing any abatement in demand.

“We aren’t seeing any slowdown,” Cullen said. “For us, we know what our product is and what it does and our introduction of service gateway product put our stake in the ground as to where we are going. We are seeing a rise in the need to offer application-based services.”

If, as many believe, the industry moves more toward usage-based billing or tiered services, DPI is likely to play an important role in enabling service providers to manage their networks while offering the differing service levels, much as U.K. ISP PlusNet does today.

Of course, tiered services in and of themselves are likely to set off another firestorm of protest from those who support Net Neutrality and believe service tiers are inherently unfair.