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Caspian Offers Resolution to Net Neutrality Debate With Fair Use Policy Framework; Industry's First Equitable Strategy for Bandwidth Allocation and Revenue DistributionSAN JOSE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- April 10, 2006 -- Caspian, the leading provider of multimedia traffic management solutions for IP and multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) networks, today unveiled an open Fair Use Policy Framework in an effort to resolve the many legitimate and contentious issues being raised in the escalating Net Neutrality debate. The Framework is currently implemented in Caspian's Media Controller product line, which has been successfully deployed in Asia to manage multimedia network traffic by allocating bandwidth more efficiently and fairly. It represents the first approach by any company to apply a dynamic hierarchy of bandwidth management policies in full accordance with U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations. The Caspian Fair Use Policy Framework proposes three increasingly granular techniques for managing traffic in IP networks. The Framework hierarchy includes: 1. Proportioning bandwidth equally among all active users without regard to applications or service levels; 2. Prioritizing bandwidth non-intrusively to ensure regulatory compliance, including emergency calls or requests under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA); and 3. Provisioning bandwidth in a dynamic, nondiscriminatory fashion to enable tiered service level offerings by network operators, and other content and service providers. "There is clearly a need for a framework like this one to elevate the debate on Net Neutrality to include an examination of bandwidth management policies that are both rational and fair," commented Jennifer Liscom, research director with Gartner. "Indeed, it will be impossible to resolve this debate without the ability to manage bandwidth somehow, or to attempt any form of congestion control without visibility into traffic flows and the nature of the applications involved." Previous attempts to resolve bandwidth contention issues have fallen flat. Concerns about compromised privacy with deep packet inspection (DPI) devices and questions about the "fairness" of static provisioning have further fueled the debate from consumers and the FCC. The Caspian Fair Use Policy eliminates the need to employ intrusive techniques that examine the packet's payload, potentially exposing consumers to identity theft or loss of personal data. Additionally, the Framework addresses the FCC's concerns about unfair business practices, assuring equitable and nondiscriminatory access to tiered premium services for end users, content providers, and network operators. "The Internet is entering into a new phase with the advent of IP multimedia services," commented Caspian President and CEO Brad Wurtz. "However, current network conditions are unbalanced. Today we have a situation where a handful of people armed with P2P applications can take over vast amounts of bandwidth. This is not only unfair, but it makes the rollout of high quality multimedia services over IP almost impossible." Caspian's Fair Use Policy Framework addresses the legitimate concerns of the four main groups participating in the Net Neutrality debate. -- For consumers, it provides nondiscriminatory access to all Internet sites, services and content, and eliminates the inherent unfairness of "one size fits all" rates that now force the majority of users to subsidize a handful of high-bandwidth users. -- For Internet-based content and service providers, it offers different levels of QoS to accommodate the various multimedia applications with a nondiscriminatory allocation of appropriate bandwidth. -- For network operators, it assures an adequate return on the investment required to expand network capacity, and provides a means other than controversial traffic filtering and port blocking to enhance QoS by managing available bandwidth more efficiently. -- Finally, for regulators and policy makers, the Framework establishes a reliable method for prioritizing emergency traffic and fairly balances the needs of consumers, content providers and network operators. To ensure that the Framework complies fully with current FCC regulations, Caspian retained the services of Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP in Washington, D.C. "We have vetted Caspian's Fair User Policy Framework thoroughly, and have found it to be in full conformance with federal and state legislation, court decisions and FCC policy," commented Jon Canis, partner at Kelley Drye. "And by employing a noninvasive approach to identify specific traffic flows and applications, the Framework also complies with current federal and state laws that protect consumer privacy." A copy of the Caspian proposal, titled Fair Use Policy Framework: A Nondiscriminatory and Noninvasive Approach to Managing Internet Traffic in Full Compliance with U.S. Law and Federal Communications Commission Policy, is available on Caspian's Website at http://www.caspian.com/newsevents/presskit.asp. About Caspian Caspian is the leading supplier of multimedia traffic management solutions for service provider, large enterprise, and government networks. The Company's carrier-class Media Controllers leverage advanced Flow-State QoS technology to dynamically manage and control bandwidth in IP and MPLS networks. Caspian enables customers to enforce usage policies, enhance multimedia service quality, and prioritize applications. Caspian is headquartered in San Jose, California with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, Singapore and China. For more information, visit Caspian on the Web at www.caspian.com. |
