Procera's latest DPI appliance fits in your network between the core equipment and the CPE.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [October 6, 2008]

Los Gatos, Calif.-based Procera Networks has a trendy core competency. On its website, Procera describes itself as a developer of "Evolved DPI solutions that provide the most accurate traffic awareness, control and protection for complex networks."

"Our timing has been extremely good," notes Jon Lindén, vice president of global marketing at Procera Networks. "We've never seen so many RFPs and RFQs and RFIs. Everyone now understands the value of DPI and knows that it offers more than P2P control."

A niche for an appliance
With the net neutrality discussion dead in Washington, D.C., it is more or less clear that ISPs will be able to manage their networks, and to manage a network that delivers services, Lindén says, you need DPI.

"DPI is part of what you have to have in your network."

Procera Networks has been selling its PacketLogic line of products for some time now, but with increased demand for DPI, it has identified a gap in the portfolio. The products the company currently has on the market fit either at the core of the network or at the customer's location. The new appliance, the PL10002, sits at what Procera Networks calls the edge. It's the interface between the core and the last mile. In a DSL network, it would be the DSLAM (but the product fits in cable networks and others too).

The appliance currently handles gigabit Ethernet. Is 10 gigabit Ethernet planned for the future?

Lindén says that the industry trend, as in the rest of the tech industry, is for ever faster boxes. He says he remembers the switch from Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) to gigabit Ethernet in April 2004. Four years later, he notes, the company's fastest box (for use in the core) handles 4 10 gigabit connections in full duplex for a total capacity of 80 Gbps. So the answer is that yes, eventually the box will need 10 gigabit Ethernet.

Will the company's OEMs determine when Procera Networks makes this jump? Lindén says the company is independent of its OEMs, and has changed OEMs regularly. The company has used both AMD and Intel. Its products have been based on five different platform switches.

"We rely on the continuous development of our OEM partners," Lindén says, "but we are never stuck with any one OEM partner."

The appliance
The box itself is a 3 RU chassis. Procera Networks says that its one to four gigabit Ethernet channels can handle up to 500,000 subscribers.

The box can handle 2 million traffic flows.

It comes with traffic management and reporting software.

Lindén emphasizes that functionality has not been compromised in favor of capacity. The mid-line unit can handle four gigabit Ethernet channels in full duplex for a total of 8 Gbps capacity, and the top of the line, as noted above, has a capacity of 80 Gbps.

Pricing and availability
The PL10002 is being released today, Monday October 6, 2008.

Pricing starts at around $120,000. In the same product line, the entry level 5600 starts at $5,000, and the top of the line PL10014, with an 80 Gbps capacity, starts at $800,000.

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