Zeugma News

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New Survey a Wakeup Call for Broadband Service Providers

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

U.S. Consumer Survey Yields Results Offering Promise and Peril for Broadband Service Providers

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008, VANCOUVER, BC—A recently completed survey of U.S. consumers conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) yielded results at odds with the views of many telecom policy makers and industry observers. The survey, which was conducted in August, focused on consumer views on broadband priority, bandwidth capping, and internet privacy. Given that many broadband service providers (BSPs) are contemplating offering premium bandwidth channels as well as imposing bandwidth caps and metered billing systems, these results are of critical importance to service providers of all types.

According to Matt Davis, director of multiplay research at IDC, “While some of the results of this survey were in line with expectations, others were significantly at odds with prevailing wisdom. Specifically, consumers continue to be protective of their privacy but are adamantly opposed to bandwidth caps and keenly interested in premium bandwidth services. These last two points may come as a surprise to those believing that bandwidth caps are inevitable and that consumers are unwilling to pay more for better services.”

The survey produced these key conclusions:

On Premium Bandwidth Services

a) 94 percent of respondents saw value in BSP services that dynamically allocate premium bandwidth for certain types of traffic, such as video, VOIP, gaming, and telecommuter VPNs.

b) 54 percent would actively seek to change service providers if another BSP offered this service; 26 percent would be willing to pay their BSPs additional fees for premium bandwidth services.

On Bandwidth Capping and Metering

c) 81 percent do not like the idea of establishing a bandwidth cap and charging for use above the cap.

d) 51 percent would try to change service providers if their BSP imposed bandwidth caps. Interestingly, light and moderate users are even more opposed to capping and metering than are heavy users.

e) 83 percent either do not know what a gigabyte is or have no idea how many they use.

f) Only 5 percent said unequivocally that “those who use more should pay more.”

Zeugma vice president of marketing Kevin Walsh adds, “These results are both an opportunity and a warning for BSPs. The opportunity is that consumers are signaling a willingness to pay more for dedicated bandwidth over and above basic high speed internet for such services as premium internet video, VOIP, gaming, and corporate VPN access. The warning is a clear distaste for bandwidth caps. At a minimum, providers moving forward with bandwidth capping schemes may want to consider a more intelligent and flexible application of caps.” Walsh continued, “Zeugma customers are uniquely able to capitalize in these market characteristics by quickly prototyping and delivering advanced bandwidth allocation services and agile bandwidth capping mechanisms.”

The IDC survey consisted of responses from 787 U.S. consumers and was conducted between August 18 and August 29, 2008. Contact Matt Davis, IDC at 508-935-4254 for additional information.

Source: IDC, IDC Survey Shows Consumers Support Smarter Networks, Doc # lcUS21449408, September 2008.

About Zeugma Systems

Zeugma Systems is a privately held telecommunications equipment supplier delivering open solutions that accelerate new service deployment for broadband service providers of all types. The Zeugma Services Node, a service delivery router, uniquely combines massive compute resources with a high-capacity data plane to yield reliable application integration and rapid turn-up of new services together with broadband aggregations and subscriber management. For additional information, please visit www.zeugmasystems.com.

Contact Information

Jeannette Bitz
Engage PR
510-748-8200 x207
jbitz@engagepr.com

Zeugma Adds Telchemy Quality Monitoring to Open Application Sandbox

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Allows broadband service providers to ensure subscriber quality of experience (QOE)
for VOIP and IP video services

SEPTEMBER 9, 2008, VANCOUVER, BC—Zeugma systems, a privately held supplier of open telecommunications solutions, today announced the addition of Telchemy’s quality of experience (QOE) monitoring tools to the Zeugma Open Application Sandbox (OAS). The Zeugma OAS, a protected application environment running on an extensible compute grid directly within the Zeugma Services Node (ZSN), facilitates rapid development of new services and integration of third-party applications. Telchemy’s VQmon applications provide broadband service providers (BSPs) with robust mechanisms for monitoring QOE on VOIP, internet video, IPTV, and video on demand (VOD) traffic.

According to Sig Luft, Zeugma founder and CTO, “There is clearly increased interest among BSPs in quality of service (QOS)-specific ‘channels’ on top of basic high-speed internet access—channels capable of delivering internet video, VOD, IPTV, and VOIP service quality commensurate with subscriber expectations. Paramount to allowing BSPs to generate sustained revenue from these service channels is the assurance of subscriber QOE. Network platforms, such as the ZSN, delivering QOS channels must also monitor and enforce QOE in order to afford BSPs a complete solution. Telchemy’s VQmon technology is well-accepted, robust, and accurate, providing our customers with essential data on the quality of their services.”

Telchemy’s VQmon efficiently analyzes multiple VOIP and IP video streams, producing real-time mean opinion scores (MOS) and detailed diagnostic data. VQmon/HD analyzes IP video streams, providing video MOS, I/B/P frame statistics, content related metrics, and other essential data for every IPTV or VOD stream. VQmon/SA monitors VOIP calls and produces listening and conversational quality MOS and R-factor scores. Aggregation of CPE-reported metrics through the media path using RTCP XR (RFC 3611) is also supported. VQmon/HD and VQmon/SA are marketed as components of the Zeugma QOE Monitor application.

Added Alan Clark, Telchemy president and CEO, “Zeugma is the first to see the benefit in tightly coupling robust quality monitoring tools with a high-performance broadband aggregation, routing, and subscriber management device. It not only provides real-time, non-intrusive visibility into critical subscriber services, it also opens the door to automatically taking corrective action when network anomalies occur. For example, increasing bandwidth associated with a video stream when the MOS drops below a certain threshold.”

The Zeugma QOE Monitor makes use of the extensive deep session inspection (DSI) and compute grid resources available on the ZSN. The compute grid provides a federated set of compute resources that can be added to over time as network demands scale. The compute grid also provides a redundant environment to ensure high network availability.

The Zeugma QOE Monitor is available now. Contact Zeugma for pricing information.

About Zeugma Systems

About Telchemy

Telchemy is the global leader in voice and video over IP performance management technology with its VQmon® , DVQattest™ and SQmon™ families of service quality monitoring and analysis software products. Telchemy is the world's first and only company to provide voice and video IP performance management technology that considers the effects of time-varying network impairments and has led the development of VOIP performance management protocols within the industry. Founded in 1999, the company has products deployed worldwide and markets its technology through leading networking, test and management product companies. For additional information, please visit www.telchemy.com.

Contact Information

Jeannette Bitz
Engage PR
510-748-8200 x207
jbitz@engagepr.com

No Broadband Competition? Think Again.

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:05:24 GMT

A frequent refrain in US political circles is that there is a dearth of competition among broadband providers. This thinking typically stems from the fact that most consumers have a choice of two broadband providers: the telco and the cableco. This, in turn, is a result of the inconvenient fact that those two businesses are the only ones that have built networks that connect to consumer homes. It’s kind of hard to compete with broadband network operators if you don’t have a broadband network.

The belief that there is a dearth of competition is wrong on two levels. First, the most frequently cited benefit deriving from competition is lower pricing and/or superior products. Here the results are instructive. According to a recent report from Pew Internet Research, average US broadband pricing between 2005 and 2008 dropped 4 percent. That’s not a huge decline, but it is a decline nevertheless and it came during a period of heightening inflation. During that same time interval, broadband penetration (the percentage of households with broadband) increased by 63 percent. Finally, and again over that same period of time, average downstream broadband speeds have more than doubled according to broadbandtrends.com. Let’s see…more people buying a product that’s getting less expensive and better in quality. And we don’t have competition?

The second mistake is to assume that duopolies can’t be competitive. While this may be because the word “duopoly” shares a few syllables with “monopoly” (and even “oligopoly”), I’d like to believe most people aren’t that shallow. The logic (among political types) seems to be that with two players it’s too easy to collude so, therefore, collusion must occur.

The reality is that telcos and cablecos are engaged in an epic competitive battle. Further increasing the number of competitors in a given market requires increasing the number of broadband access connections to consumer homes. And since these are extraordinarily capital intensive undertakings, there are unlikely to be more than a few. It is certainly possible that widespread, high-speed fixed wireless will become a third major broadband access alternative to the DSL and fiber of the telcos and the HFC of the cablecos, but it’s hard to see a fourth or fifth entity building network infrastructure to connect to consumer households.

It is also a mistake to assume that forcing incumbents to provide access to competitors on a wholesale basis is real competition. It is pretend competition that allows politicians to feel better about themselves. It does not result in lower pricing (how could it with an extra link in the supply chain?) nor will it result in product improvements. This practice has been largely given up in the US and Canada but remains popular in many other countries.

Posted By Kevin Walsh

Don't Give it Away!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:34:19 GMT

The other day I was asked “What’s the point of managing traffic in a fiber-to-the-prem network?” Surely 50Mbps to the home will address any possible delivery issues for any variety of services. I thought for a moment and replied, "Why would you offer 50Mbps? Who do you suspect will end up monetizing that big dumb pipe?" Surely not the broadband operator.

As I thought about a 50Mbps service offering, it seemed to me that FTTP service offerings would be much better positioned as "anything ready." If the subscriber just wants internet connectivity, offer a base 2Mbps service. If they want the carrier’s IPTV service, then enable the additional 2.5Mbps SD or 8Mbps HD channels when they are needed. If they want to view movies by Netflix or Apple, using set-top boxes, then enable the SD or HD capacity at the time they want to view those services. But don't just give away the inherent capacity found in the FTTP technology. By enabling a specific service when the subscriber requests it, the carrier can be in a position to offer any service that becomes attractive to the consumer. Ultimately, consumers only care that they can get the service they desire—and that it works.

More and more sources of long-form standard and high definition content are emerging on the internet. As new consumer trends start to take hold, the broadband operator will have increasing difficulty in competing with these offerings. Rather than bring everything into their "walled garden", broadband operators would do well to simply embrace the presence of these once vaunted "killer apps" and position their assets as part of the solution.

Posted By Sig Luft

On Cap-and-Meter (Second in a Series)

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:41:07 GMT

Continuing on this thread…

I have frequently heard the argument that while most consumers do not understand what a gigabyte is, neither did they understand what a kilowatt hour was, and no one is claiming that electric utilities have it all wrong.

Although seemingly a convenient analogy, this misses two important points.

First, when power utilities instituted this type of billing metric they were monopolies, and in fact, most still are. Consumers didn’t matter; they either accepted it or went without power. Broadband operators certainly don’t want to create the perception that they are similar to regulated monopolies.

Second, there are practical limits to how much power a single household can consume. Consequently, even eco-ignorant consumers who leave lights and appliances on 24x7 are unlikely to get socked with a power bill that is more than two or three times the norm. With broadband however, that’s not the case.

Consider this hypothetical example: a 5Mbps (downstream) broadband service costs $34.95 per month and carries a 40 gigabyte per month cap. Each gigabyte above the cap costs $1.00. Before going on vacation, your teenage son decides to download YouTube (like, the whole site). Assuming the broadband service could actually run at 5Mbps (few operators will admit that it can’t), the bill at the end of the month? $1,637.45.

I feel sorry for the customer service rep who has to field that call.

Posted By Kevin Walsh

On Cap-and-Meter (First in a Series)

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:52:37 GMT

The subject of capping and metering bandwidth currently occupies the thinking of many broadband marketing executives. This is completely understandable. Usage continues to grow and shows no signs of abating. Managing bandwidth utilization in order to ensure everyone gets to use it has been taken off the table by the FCC. Anyone thinking of tailoring advertising so that is more relevant to users will get an invitation to Capitol Hill. Raising prices in this highly competitive market is a non-starter. This doesn’t seem to leave many alternatives.

While it does certainly appear that something has to give, resorting to cap-and-meter billing approaches might not be the best response. Especially if the metric used is something crude, like a certain number of gigabytes.

One obstacle to this movement, unfortunately, is human nature. Consumers are inherently skeptical when the cost and characteristic of a product changes but nothing is improved. And this is certainly the case with cap-and-meter billing models. Other than vague notions (like fairness), no service provider has claimed that this movement will make broadband a better product. What they claim is that circumstances are forcing them into it.

Airlines that charge for checked luggage offer a real-time case study of businesses that change the cost structure of a product without adding any value. They only serve to irritate their customers.

Posted By Kevin Walsh

Former SBC Senior Executive Joins Zeugma Board of Directors

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

J. Michael Turner Brings Extensive Background Working with Tier-One Service Provider

AUGUST 11, 2008, VANCOUVER, BC—Zeugma Systems, a privately held supplier of open telecommunications solutions, today announced the addition of J. Michael (Mike) Turner to the Zeugma board of directors. Turner has more than 30 years of experience at SBC (now AT&T (NYSE: T)), most recently as president of SBC DataComm, Global & Internet Services, where he was responsible for providing internet services, global customer care, and networking services and integration. In addition to domestic and international responsibilities, Turner has worked extensively with digital media companies.

Zeugma CEO Andrew Harries noted, “Mike’s first-hand experience and success with tier one service providers, as well as more recent work he has done with content providers, are valuable additions to our board. He understands the big picture and the complex business challenges facing our customers. In addition, his background will allow us to more strategically evaluate our customers’ needs and focus on forward-looking products that ultimately increase revenues for service providers.”

Turner held senior officer positions with diverse responsibilities leading key SBC business units, including SBC Broadband Services and SBC Advanced Solutions. As head of SBC’s DataComm division he managed 7,000 employees throughout 36 states and Canada, and led SBC Internet Services as it expanded to over one million customers. While at SBC, Turner improved network cost structure, shifted capital to forward-looking products and services, and identified cost-effective ways to enter new markets during a time of increasing competition and regulatory challenges.

“Zeugma is truly unique among private high-tech companies because of the capabilities its products offer to service providers,” stated Turner. “I was particularly drawn to the advances Zeugma is making in helping service providers quickly prototype and market new services that can rapidly generate new revenue streams. This is precisely what broadband operators are searching for.”

Since leaving SBC, Turner has consulted to a broad variety of technology and digital media companies. Turner holds an MBA from Illinois Benedictine University and a BSEE from Lamar University.

About Zeugma Systems

Contact Information

Jeannette Bitz
Engage PR
510-748-8200 x207
jbitz@engagepr.com

I've heard this before (Telephony)

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

No one professes to like it. They claim that they’re forced into it. They use words like “inevitable” and “unavoidable.” They claim that since a minority of people misuse the system a majority of people must pay more. Or pay differently. Read more.

Posted By Kevin Walsh

FCC-Comcast Slap Down: A Glimmer of Hope?

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:37:30 GMT

The recent FCC Order instructing Comcast to cease and desist from network management practices that involved blocking or throttling of certain applications actually contains a glimmer of hope for service providers contemplating premium service “channels” as a better way to manage traffic (and make money in the process). After getting past the boilerplate language meant to appease net socialists, Commissioner Martin states that “We do not tell providers how to manage their networks. They might choose, for instance, to prioritize voice-over-IP calls.” This clearly opens the door for broadband operators to identify specific applications and assign premium quality of service parameters.

According to IDC analyst Matt Davis, the FCC confirmed this interpretation after several conversations he had with an FCC spokesperson.

So the way forward appears to be this—while it is impermissible to hinder things it is perfectly ok to promote things. This is great news for broadband providers because it changes the solution to congested networks from a network management tool into a revenue generating product.

Posted By Andrew Harries

Same day movie downloads

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:08:16 GMT

Every day the Internet is becoming a better vehicle for delivering video content. I just noticed that Apple recently announced same day movie downloads. That is, you can download movies through iTunes and watch them on the same day they are released as a DVD. With the ubiquity of iTunes on people’s PCs, and consumers becoming more and more familiar with downloading music, it is only a matter of time before downloading movies becomes the norm. Of course this is quite a slow process today, which is a barrier to adoption for many. One of the cool things we are doing at Zeugma is giving broadband service providers and content providers a way to provide movie downloads faster without requiring users to upgrade their basic DSL rate. Our ZSN can give the user a temporary bandwidth boost while the movie is being downloaded. For companies like Apple, Netflix and even content providers like Disney, this would be a fantastic way to get content to consumers more quickly, and accelerate the market for direct-to-home movie downloads.

Posted By Trevor Dyck

How should we measure broadband penetration?

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:38:49 GMT

A recent report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) once again provided fodder for the Government-Needs-to-Do-Something-Right-Now crowd. As has become an annual event, this report highlighted the fact that the U.S. ranks a lowly 15th in terms of broadband penetration among OECD countries, at a paltry 23.3 percent.

As I read this I was struck by the fact that I, by the OECD’s measure, am also a laggard. Despite the fact that I consider myself to be somewhat technically sophisticated, my household, with only one broadband connection to serve four inhabitants, has only a 25 percent penetration rate from a broadband perspective (at least until I convince my kids to move out). I personally rank below the average citizen in such world powers as Iceland, Denmark, and Luxemburg. As Yoda might say, aghast was I.

Since my wife refuses to allow me to buy three more broadband connections (for some strange reason our 0.25-broadband-connections-per-person seems to work quite fine), I decided to dig in to these numbers more closely.

You can probably see where this is going. Measuring broadband connections per capita is as meaningful as measuring driveways per capita (I’m embarrassed to admit I only have one driveway) or front doors per capita (ditto). It is broadband connections per household that is truly relevant. Using this measure, the U.S. has a 57 percent broadband penetration rate (according to broadbandtrends.com), not 23.3 percent. While every country’s broadband penetration will increase using this metric, they will do so at a rate determined by average household size. And, unsurprisingly, average household size in the U.S. exceeds that of each of the countries ranked above the U.S. in broadband penetration.

How does the U.S. rank using this metric? I don’t know, but I’m confident that the bureaucrats at the OECD will dig into it.

Posted By Kevin Walsh

What really drives the bundle?

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

For about a decade now there has been a steady drumbeat within the telecom industry. Bundles are good. Bundles reduce churn. Consumers love bundles. Long live the bundle.

But recent research by Matt Davis at IDC might throw cold water on that notion. I won’t steal Matt’s thunder, but suffice to say that the two principle advantages of the bundle (i.e., “everything on one bill!” and “lower prices!”) have fallen from favor among consumers. What is of greater interest, at least according to Matt’s research, is what he calls the “hero application.”

The hero application is the killer application, the anchor tenant, the must-have service. Subscribers will tend to gravitate toward bundles only if they contain a hero application that is of interest to them. Other members of the bundle are just along for the ride.

This, of course, places a premium on service dexterity. That is, on quickly prototyping and deploying new services. And then, just as quickly, discarding failed services (of which there should be many) and putting muscle behind the nuggets that achieve success, i.e., the ones that become hero applications.

Thus far, examples of hero applications have primarily been limited to exclusive or highly targeted content packages. Increasingly, however, hero apps are focusing on connectivity and quality.

Long live the hero application.

Posted By Kevin Walsh

Zeugma unveils next generation service delivery platform

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The latest step in the evolution of edge routers as a focal point for network intelligence is here. On the heels of recent product announcements from Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, Juniper and Redback, a new trend is emerging of enhanced platforms with greater deep packet inspection, security features, and application processing. Read more

Posted By &nsbp

Zeugma Systems launches new service delivery router

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

After more than four years of development, startup Zeugma Systems this week announced the launch of its Zeugma Services Node (ZSN), a broadband edge product that belongs to a new class of equipment known as the service delivery router. Company representatives say the ZSN combines "staggering" computing and networking horsepower in a single device, enabling broadband service providers to identify and monitor session flows on a per-subscriber, per-service basis. Read more.

Posted By &nsbp

Can cultural change happen?

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

One of the joys of launching a company is an intensive round of pre-launch briefings with press and analysts who follow to industry. We've done quite a few of these, and for the most part our ideas have found a very receptive and supportive audience.

However, there are some analysts out there who are deeply skeptical of broadband service providers' ability to successfully sell any new consumer service beyond faster connectivity. To quote one respected industry-veteran-turned-analyst, "I believe that what you’re proposing has to happen. But I'm skeptical about the service providers' ability to execute. It's cultural. I mean, they just don't get it!"

So who's right? What is true is that now more than ever, with the decline in fixed-line telephony, the telcos no longer have the cash-cow safety net that previously guarded them against the effects of failed new-service adventures. But does this lack of a safety net translate into a "burning platform" urgency in setting and executing new service strategies? Clearly our analyst friend doesn't think so. Longtime corporate cultures are hard to change.

Yet these are vast businesses with an enormous amount at stake. They own the highway that carries Web 2.0 services to their destination. Those leadership teams who have clear heads and a bold vision will surely make the bold investments in technology and business models that will best enable them to leverage their assets, position themselves in the broadband service value chain, partner with popular web service providers (don't try to do it all from within the walled garden), and once again become an indispensable part of everyday life.

We think this will happen. Who's right?

Posted By Andrew Harries

Upcoming Shows

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

See you at Nxtcomm '08 - June 17-19, 2008, Las Vegas

Booth SL6509

What are the lines between "advertising" and "information"?

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

We all seem to have some sort innate ability to distinguish between what we consider “advertising” and what we consider “information.” Maybe it comes from years of being inundated with both. But I was thinking the other day that those lines seem to be blurring more and more. I was using my Google Mail account, reading my email and exchanging emails with a friend about flight options to Palm Springs. Google, in exchange for its free email service presumably, puts unobtrusive ads around your email. I soon realized that Google was using keywords in my email to display more relevant advertising. As I was emailing with my friend, I noticed ads for companies offering discounted flights to Palm Springs! For me, this was more “information” than “advertising,” because it happened to be what I was looking for. Is that the distinction between the two? If we’re presented with information we want, do we categorize it as “information,” and if it’s unwanted, is it “advertising”? In that case, the more relevant the information/advertising (Infotising? Advermation?) is to us, the better?

Clearly, Google and others are already doing this type of thing. More and more ISPs are also using behavioral data to present us with more relevant ads. Some people are scared of this, but wouldn’t we all be better off being presented with more of the relevant information and less of the stuff we don’t care about?

Posted By Trevor Dyck

Zeugma Unveils Service Delivery Router, Expanding Revenue Opportunities for Broadband Service Providers

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

BT One of Several Top Tier Service Providers to Trial Innovative New Broadband Aggregation System

MAY 27, 2008, VANCOUVER, BC—Zeugma Systems, a privately held supplier of open telecommunications solutions, unveiled its flagship product today, the Zeugma Services Node (ZSN). The ZSN is a service delivery router (SDR) that combines massive compute resources with next-generation capacity, service awareness, and subscriber awareness in a carrier-grade, fully redundant system. The result is a new class of equipment that enables service providers to:

Rapidly prototype and launch new revenue-generating services,
Identify and monitor session flows on a highly granular per-subscriber, per-service basis,
Manage individual session flows in order to enforce policy-based quality of service (QOS) and capacity,
Develop applications, such as targeted ad insertion, that add value to individual session flows,
Reduce the number and types of edge devices required to deliver high-value services while performing standard broadband aggregation and subscriber management functions.

The rapid prototype and rollout of new services is achieved via the Zeugma Open Application Sandbox (OAS). The OAS is a framework able to support a multiplicity of applications developed by Zeugma, the service provider, or even third parties. The Zeugma OAS runs on a linearly scalable, high performance compute grid, giving broadband service providers (BSPs) a platform that is truly limitless in its potential to support new services. Application program interfaces (APIs) give applications running on the Zeugma OAS the ability to continuously and dynamically modify the behavior of underlying deep packet inspection (DPI) functions and the dynamic bandwidth manager. This allows, for example, finely-targeted ad insertion, QOS-enhanced over the top (OTT) video, content and URL filtering, enhanced VOIP, active quality of experience (QOE) monitoring, and many other applications.

According to Kevin Woollard, BT (LSE: BT.A, NYSE: BT) technical strategist, office of the CTO, “As an operator we need highly scalable, high performance solutions that allow BT to deliver applications and services in the future that we haven’t even thought of yet. We are currently investigating the Zeugma Services Node’s capabilities, and are excited by the potential of the technology. Whether BT, Zeugma, system integrators, or third-party developers write the applications, the ZSN appears to offer the embedded compute resources able to support them.”

Added Michael Howard, cofounder and principal analyst with industry research firm Infonetics Research, “The future relevance and competitiveness of broadband providers is dependent on their ability to quickly develop and deploy new services—today's value creation and value add is largely in services, and not in the capacity and pipes to deliver such services. The ZSN is the first of a new breed of service delivery routers and could be a game changer. While other suppliers have begun taking steps in this

direction, Zeugma is starting at the next level by integrating general purpose compute resources as a key element of a high-performance edge network element. While throughput capacity will always be a requirement, compute performance may well be the most important metric for this class of network equipment.”

Designed Explicitly for Broadband Service Delivery

The ZSN provides a new level of intelligence, extensibility, and flexibility to broadband service providers through its unique platform architecture, which is composed of the following elements:

1. Compute Blades. The 14-slot Z7 can be configured with up to thirteen Compute Blades (CBs) while the 6-slot Z2 can accommodate up to five CBs. Each CB provides up to 40,000 DMIPS (Dhrystone millions of instructions per second) of processing capacity, yielding a system that scales to 520,000 DMIPS, the equivalent of 520 billion non-floating point operations per second. The ZSN dynamically load balances applications across all available CBs. CBs can be added or removed without impacting system performance and the compute grid will automatically expand and contract to optimize available resources.

2. Traffic Blades. For high-speed broadband aggregation, traffic forwarding, and deep packet inspection, Traffic Blades (TBs) are provided with either 10 x 1GE ports or 6 x 10GE ports. This provides up to 720 Gbps of unidirectional interface capacity on the Z7 and 240 Gbps on the compact Z2.

3. Zeugma Open Application Sandbox (OAS). The ZSN is the first carrier-grade platform to include a native application execution environment. In a manner similar to general-purpose operating systems, the Zeugma OAS not only provides APIs for system control functions but also provides a secure execution environment that isolates applications from external threats, from each other, and from critical system resources. Applications can be added, placed on-line, and taken off-line with no impact to other applications or the ZSN itself.

4. Service Delivery Applications. Zeugma provides a number of applications that can be run within the Zeugma OAS. These include application (e.g., VOIP, VOD) driven QOS (ADQ), application-driven bandwidth (ADB), active VOIP and video quality of experience (QOE) monitoring, URL filtering, and others.

Zeugma president and CEO Andrew Harries observed, “With active trials under way at a number of tier one European and North American service providers, it is increasingly clear that the rapid development and turn-up of new services on a per-subscriber basis is the overriding objective for every network operator. The most logical way to realize that goal is to tightly meld service delivery applications with a high-performance traffic management and forwarding system. This approach uniquely combines internet-time application delivery with carrier-grade reliability.”

Deployed at broadband aggregation points within service provider networks, the ZSN can work in conjunction with existing broadband aggregation and subscriber management systems or it can provide those functions itself in greenfield builds or as part of general network upgrades.

Media

About Zeugma Systems

Contact Information

Jeannette Bitz

Engage PR 510-748-8200 x207

jbitz@engagepr.com

Zeugma Rethinks Edge Routing

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Zeugma Systems Inc. comes out of hiding today to talk about an edge router that, it says, has been crafted to help carriers produce new services more quickly -- an idea that's been popular with router vendors lately. Read more.

Zeugma Systems Comes Out of Stealth With Service Delivery Router Technology

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A new company called Zeugma Systems today came out from behind the curtain to introduce what it says is a high-powered service delivery router.

The tool will help operators identify, monitor and manage applications on their networks so they can move up the value chain to deliver more targeted services.

Kevin Walsh, vice president of marketing at the Vancouver-based global firm, said the Zeugma Services Node (ZSN) already is in trials with a handful of service providers, including BT, in North America and Europe.

Zeugma Develops Next Gen Broadband Service Delivery Router

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Zeugma, a start-up based in Vancouver, Canada, unveiled its Zeugma Services Node (ZSN), a broadband edge aggregation device designed to help broadband operators identify, monitor, manage and customize service flows traversing their networks. Zeugma integrates routing, subscriber, and service management in a single platform powered by high-performance, multi-core packet processors. The system leverages a customized compute grid architecture and up to 520,000 DMIPS compute capacity to identify and monitor session flows on a highly granular per-subscriber, per-service basis. Read more. Read more.

Zeugma unveils services router

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Fibresystems. Zeugma Systems, a privately held supplier of open telecommunications solutions, unveiled its flagship product today, the Zeugma Services Node (ZSN). The ZSN is a service delivery router (SDR) that combines massive compute resources with next-generation capacity, service awareness, and subscriber awareness in a carrier-grade, fully redundant system. More

Zeugma aims to redefine edge

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A Canadian start-up company with a Greek name is introducing a new approach to delivering broadband services designed to streamline delivery and pump up revenues for service providers. Read more.

Posted By &nsbp

Zeugma Unveils Broadband Edge Aggregation Device

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A Vancouver-based telecom solutions supplier today unveiled a new broadband edge aggregation device that company officials and industry experts say could change the way broadband providers make money.

Zeugma Systems’ so-called “Zeugma Services Node,” or ZSN, is expected to change the way networks operate by tightly melding service delivery applications with a high-performance traffic management and forwarding system, company officials say.

Posted By &nsbf

But it's supposed to happen that way

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I am continually astonished by people bemoaning the fact that growth in broadband subscribers in North America is slowing. According to broadbandtrends.com, the number of North American broadband households reached 76.3 million recently, out of a total of about 126 million occupied households. This represents about 60 percent of the total available market. Since it is mathematically impossible to exceed 100 percent (unless households start clamoring for multiple broadband connections, an argument I have yet to encounter), and in fact broadband penetration will likely plateau somewhere between 80 percent and 90 percent, it is inevitable that broadband growth would slow as the market becomes saturated. Why is anyone surprised by this?

I have met with a number of service providers that enjoy broadband penetration rates as high as 30-40 percent. These providers are smart enough to realize that, in most markets, they will actually plateau at around 45-55 percent, depending on the competitive landscape. Consequently, these providers already know, ARPU growth fueled by increases in broadband penetration will begin to slow and they need to begin looking at services they can offer on top of broadband.

On the one hand, as covered in a recent GigaOm post, this move to new services may simply constitute a move to higher speeds. But data from a recent survey conducted by IDC shows some resistance among consumers to moving to higher speeds. According to the survey, roughly two-thirds of consumers are sticking to the lowest or middle tier in a typical three-tier broadband lineup. Anteing up for ultrafast broadband that might be required only occasionally is something even the tech savvy have resisted.

More astute broadband service providers are detecting this resistance and offering compelling and relevant services on top of broadband. These run the gamut from the management of home wiring to network-based security, but one service that is drawing increased interest among providers is to automatically increase bandwidth for certain traffic flows. And charge for it.

Posted By Kevin Walsh

Daunting challenges

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Carriers face some pretty daunting challenges with respect to their capital-intensive networks. Once upon a time, the network defined the service and value proposition, be it voice, video, or data. Convergence promised carriers an opportunity to consolidate resources and pursue higher-revenue triple-play services. In general, such networks are defined by increased capacity for the delivery of video services. This extra capacity comes at significant cost to the carrier but with the promise of additional revenue. However, the fine print on the contract is that the carrier is not the only one who benefits from this capital investment. Over-the-top (OTT) service providers benefit tremendously from the increase in capacity to the subscriber. Increased bandwidth, together with compression technologies, shifts the value proposition away from the distribution channel (e.g., the carrier network) and into the hands of the content distributors, who are in a better position to attract content and a global customer base.

Speaking with carriers around the world, this problem is acutely understood, but strategies to tackle the problem vary considerably. In some cases, the discussion drifts into strategies for divesting themselves from the networking business altogether. Other strategies call for pushing through full IPTV solutions with network upgrades designed to compete head-on with incumbent cable operators. Still others lie somewhere in the middle. The fundamental threat to all of these strategies, however, is that the presence of IP-based networks creates an effective distribution channel for media that the network operator has previously controlled. With that control gone, the line between creation or aggregation of content and its distribution become increasingly blurred. Why pay multiple distributors to access a channel when you have the ability to go direct? This simple question will likely drive more competition than any incumbent distribution channel.

The network operators seem to be stumbling head-on into this grey area. Attempts to compete with traditional competitors based on bandwidth, for instance, are enabling a much larger threat from unseen competitors. A case in point would be Apple's massively successful iTunes storefront, which is made entirely possible by the advent of broadband networks. As network capacity moves from 1Mbps to 10Mbps, these storefronts can move from the distribution of audio files to video files. Suddenly, the IPTV system designed to steal customers from the local cableco enables competition from another entity with far greater brand identity.

It would seem incumbent on network operators to be more intelligent in how they build out additional capacity. Rather than just building for the sake of capacity, they should focus more on who the stakeholders are in the extra capacity and on engaging in channel partnerships. There isn't a single premium Web 2.0 site out there that doesn't pay CDNs to ensure their customers get the experience they desire, and it is this direct value proposition that carriers should be considering when they plan out their future network builds. It’s no longer what the carriers can do for themselves, rather it’s what they can do for others - provided that the others help pay for the network.

Posted By Sig Luft

Well I'll be darned

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Parenting teenagers has led me to the general conclusion that this age group has come to view all things related to the internet as free and instantly available. Since this view has prevailed for many years, it is therefore logical to assume that even 20-somethings in the workforce and paying their own bills would continue to view the internet, and all things available on the internet, in that manner. Imagine my surprise when a survey of U.S. consumers showed this not to be the case.

Zeugma recently retained IDC to conduct a consumer survey to determine if (a) consumers want to be able to find, buy, and watch high-definition video delivered over the internet while sitting on their sofas using only a remote control, and (b) whether they would be willing to pay an incremental fee to the broadband provider so that they could download the videos in such a way that viewing would commence almost instantly. It probably comes as no surprise that the response to the former was a resounding “yes,” especially among the 18-34 age group (95 percent expressed some level of interest in doing this). It may also seem logical that most people would willingly part with a few dimes to enjoy a superior over-the-top video experience (56 percent said they would). But what is surprising, at least to me, is that 70 percent of the 18-34 age group indicated some level of willingness to part with hard-earned dollars to start watching the movie they just ordered right now.

Maybe the future stewardship of the business world will not one day be handed off to incapable hands after all.

Posted By Kevin Walsh

IDC: Consumers willing to pay for faster Net video

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A new IDC study shows both service providers and content distributors may be missing revenue opportunities by not offering consumers the option of paying more for faster Internet video downloads. Read more.

Is linear television over?

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I was recently at a conference where I heard Accenture claim that 85 percent of video content consumed today is pre-recorded. I guess all those PVRs are getting put to good use. Things are more dramatic when you look at the under-35 age group – that demographic is less likely to say they’re satisfied with current television options, more likely to watch content on ‘alternative devices’ (I guess that means PCs or mobile phones), and more likely to be familiar with on-demand TV. In fact, the under-35 set prefers watching content on demand and is more willing to pay to download content.

I know I watch the majority of my TV after recording it on my PVR; I rarely watch programs ‘live’ unless they are something that should be watched live, like the NHL playoffs. If I could download these programs instead of recording them, I would definitely pay for that service – but with today’s broadband rates it would often take too long. I would like to have the option of an “accelerated” download, without having to pay for the highest tier of broadband connection. For instance, if the program could be downloaded in 2 minutes instead of 15 minutes for an extra $1.00, that would be worth it to me. What do you think? I’d like to hear thoughts from others out there.

Posted By Trevor Dyck