Merit Network, Inc. — continued

 

by Gerry Blackwell [June 26, 2007]

CALEA
Out of that group came the original OpenCALEA project. CALEA is the contentious federal statute that obliges not just telephone companies but also broadband network providers and ISPs to help law enforcement agencies by facilitating interception of communications among criminals and suspects. The deadline for service providers to be able to provide wire tapping assistance was May 14, 2007.

There is some ambiguity about which organizations are covered by CALEA and which are not (in particular, some universities are challenging the government and others are complying). But Merit concluded early on that it would take less time and energy to develop its own solution to facilitate compliance than to figure out if it was subject to the statute, or to challenge subpoenas from law enforcement agencies if the occasion arose.

Almost from the beginning, in keeping with the company's charter philosophy, it was to be a collaborative effort, at first just involving members. It quickly evolved into a formal open source development project. And then commercial ISPs, which were facing the same CALEA pressures as Merit, got involved as well.

"Our hope was that through a formal open source process, we'd be able to make a good robust tool," Welch recalls. "We were somewhat surprised when commercial ISPs expressed interest in participating, but the feeling was, 'That's fine. The more the merrier. If getting their help makes it a better tool, then it will be a better tool for us too.'"

In the end, about three quarters of the 100 participating organizations were commercial ISPs. Many regional educational and research network operators, Merit's peers, opted to assume they would not be covered by the act so didn't participate. With the commercial ISPs, there was no question they would have to comply.

The OpenCALEA Linux code, along with an implementation framework that ISPs can use to figure out what else they need to do in their networks to comply with the statute, were ready in time for the May 2007 deadline. Is it production code? It depends on your definition of what's production code in the open source environment, Welch says.

"There's a specification [related to the statute but developed by a nongovernment entity] and we wrote our code as best we could to that spec," Welch says. "As it actually gets used and we learn more about interacting with law enforcement, I'm sure people will be contributing innovative ideas on how to make it better. It will continue to grow and evolve."

There are commercial alternatives to OpenCALEA, including online services that cost in the thousands of dollars a month, he says. "That's why ours is very popular, because most of the solutions are very expensive. Open source software and commodity hardware almost always beats what for-profit companies offer price-wise, by a fairly wide margin. Though [the commercial providers] might provide better service…"

Since you're here, take a look at this
Flamingo, the network traffic visualization software, is another product of Merit's R&D group. It solves a problem that most ISPs experience. Traffic data is generated as "tons and tons of screens of data—about source and destination IP addresses, port utilization, the size of transmissions and so forth." Detecting patterns in these reams of data is next to impossible, Welch says. Enter Flamingo.

It mines traffic data and generates reports in the form of 3D graphs and charts that show anomalies in network traffic and help network managers and security specialists figure out what they mean. Flamingo can help detect new types of intrusions and worm attacks that conventional intrusion detection systems will miss, for example. Conventional systems work automatically, but mostly detect known types of attacks that generate tell-tale traffic patterns. Users can scan the Flamingo visualizations in search of more ambiguous patterns that might tip them to new intrusion tactics.

Why not write software to do this pattern detection? "The eye," says Welch, "is better at pattern recognition than any machine. So humans will be better at identifying new and unknown obfuscation techniques [used by would-be intruders]."

Merit is currently working with the University of Michigan Technology Transfer Office to try and sell the technology, either as a stand-alone tool or, more likely, as a component in an existing network monitoring suite. In the meantime, "if someone wants to try it in a trial version, they can. It's fully featured, but we wouldn't be selling a license at this time." Nor should users expect commercial-grade technical support.

The other activity at Merit that has the potential to extend beyond the company's community of education and research organizations is the series of occasional workshops on topics of interest to members and affiliates. The most recent, in May 2007, brought together experts to talk in interactive forums about the technical, legal and policy challenges around IPTV for campus networks. An archive of the ITPV workshop is available online at the Merit site for $195.

There are specific campus applications for IPTV, Welch points out—foreign language channels for language students, for example, Open Student Network Television (OSNT), a Joost-like internet television service aimed at students, and student generated content—but universities are also looking at IPTV as a way to deliver entertainment programming to dorms. Many of the issues faced by Merit members are the same as those faced by commercial ISPs.

Universities and ISPs will find much in common on other topics the company might cover in future workshops. Representatives of commercial ISPs "could definitely attend any of the workshops," Welch says. There. You have a cordial invitation from the head honcho himself.

Merit may not be the commercial ISPs' savior. The OpenCALEA project may turn out to be a one off, and Flamingo may soon pass out of the realm of public spirited cooperation and become a commercial product selling for big bucks.

But Merit is a company well worth knowing, one with a storied history and a key role in the education and research market, among the largest in the industry. Add it to your Favorites. You never know.

— End

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