Deep Packet Inspection Solutions to Generate $1.3 Billion Revenue in 2015

Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) will lead the field of mobile network test and optimization solutions by 2013 and is expected to generate equipment revenues of $1.3 billion in 2015. Other approaches include client applications on handsets, radio test equipment and radio probes, routing/transport equipment, operation support software, and network-based offloading. Growth rates for all are forecast in a new study from ABI Research.

Mobile operators� network capacity woes have garnered much public attention, and according to mobile networks practice director Aditya Kaul, they will get worse before they get better. �Brute force won�t solve this problem,� he says. �If you double the number of smartphone users, you can�t just spend $10 billion to double the capacity of your infrastructure.�

The answer lies in making existing networks more efficient. A growing arsenal of equipment and techniques from a variety of vendors aim to optimize different parts of the network and base station.

(Some OEMs are starting to build these tools right into the network�s central processing functions, but they are outside the scope of this report.)

�These solutions are relatively inexpensive and cost-effective,� notes Kaul.

Each operator may have a different set of needs. AT&T, the most publicized example, has two problems: too much data traffic (iPhone video, for example) and also too much signaling traffic � the mechanics of running the network. So, says Kaul, they would need DPI, routing/transport optimization, and maybe some UE client software installed on the smartphone. Other operators may have very different challenges.

To meet those needs, solutions are arriving from a variety of vendors including Tektronix Communications, Anritsu, Agilent, EXFO, Astellia, and a large �other� group of vendors that collectively command a 28% share of the market. It is from that �other� group that much of this segment�s innovation will flow. Says Kaul: �This is a wide-open market. It�s anybody�s game at the moment. There are a lot of small companies with new ideas and a lot of �crosstalk� between them.�