Zeugma offers variable bandwidth on demand for consumers

Zeugma Systems today announced new capabilities that enable broadband service providers to offer consumers variable bandwidth, on a scheduled or casual basis, to facilitate video downloads or other high-bandwidth data needs that vary over time.

The Zeugma SmartBoost, one of the Smart Series applications on the Zeugma Services Node, a smart network edge device, is already deployed by Hill Country Telephone, an independent telco in Texas, and is generally available.

“The industry has been talking about a ‘turbo button’ for almost a decade, but it hasn’t really been deployed,” said Kevin Walsh, vice president of marketing for Zeugma. “There have been a couple of cable companies that have offered this but these have been limited in what they allow you to do and the mechanisms that consumers use to implement the boost have been crude.”

SmartBoost can be activated by a consumer via a Web browser, a TV remote control or any Web-enabled smart phone, Walsh said, and the amount of the additional bandwidth as well as the cost can be programmed by the service provider. A consumer that wants to download a NetFlix or AppleTV movie can decide on the spur of a moment to boost bandwidth to get the movie immediately, Walsh said, while someone who works from home every Friday can schedule additional bandwidth for that one day.

“Another use case, which is almost analogous to a cellphone model, is that a  family which is at work and at school during the day may decide they want most of their bandwidth during the evenings and weekends,” Walsh said. “There are a lot of different potential use cases and models or packages a service provider might offer to make it attractive.”