Broadband operators have long considered enabling their subscribers to dynamically vary the bandwidth they consume, but so far, they could not succeed due to the operational and technical complexities involved in the process.

 

Zeugma Systems, a supplier of open telecommunications solutions for broadband service providers, is taking an innovative approach to address this problem and make it easier for customers to provision bandwidth.

 

The company has launched a new solution, SmartBoost, which enables broadband service providers to offer consumers variable bandwidth, on a scheduled or casual basis, to facilitate video downloads or other high-bandwidth data needs that vary over time.

 

A Smart Series application, SmartBoost leverages the Zeugma (News - Alert) Services Node’s unique Open Application Sandbox and robust traffic management capabilities.

Zeugma Systems had announced the Zeugma Smart Series applications in November last year with the launch of the first application, SmartVideo (News - Alert), TMCnet reported.

 

Zeugma OAS is an application support framework employing the ZSN’s scalable, high-performance compute grid. The framework is capable of simultaneously supporting a wide variety of OAS-based applications, including SmartVideo, SmartMeter, SmartVOIP, and SmartMonitor, as well as third-party applications.

 

To date, subscriber self-provisioning has been limited to the Web browser. SmartBoost extends this capability beyond the PC-based Web browser, bringing it directly to subscriber televisions and devices such as digital video players from Roku and iPhones from Apple (News - Alert).

 

Roku’s vice president of business development Jim Funk said, “By taking advantage of software development kits in both the Roku digital video player and the Zeugma Services Node, SmartBoost opens up a rich universe of subscriber-service provider interaction via the television.”

 

Funk further said that although some of these capabilities are available on PC-based Web browsers, the television is a more natural interface for the video services broadband providers are marketing.

SmartBoost is easy to implement. It does not require integration with external systems; all required functionality is inherent to the Zeugma Services Node (ZSN). Thus it avoids the task of modifying a myriad of devices such as broadband remote access servers, policy servers, and access nodes, which severely complicates implementation, driving up both cost and time-to-market.

 

SmartBoost works seamlessly over any broadband access network technology. It can be used in conjunction with SmartVideo, which automatically allocates incremental bandwidth for certain streaming video services such as Netflix. SmartBoost is also compatible with existing policy control and user authentication systems.

 

The Zeugma SmartBoost is already deployed by Hill Country Telephone, an independent telco in Texas.

 

Larry Pechacek, business development manager with Hill Country Telephone, said, “SmartBoost will give us another tool to upsell our customers to higher bandwidth tiers and advanced services, such as those we currently offer with Zeugma’s SmartVideo application. Equally important, from a technical ease-of-implementation standpoint, all we have to do is drop the app into our ZSN.”

 

Curtis Sherbo, Zeugma director of product line management, commented that SmartBoost significantly enhances the ability of broadband service providers to create and market more granular, flexible bandwidth offerings.

 

“And by simplifying the process of ordering new services and eliminating any delay in their implementation, SmartBoost can take advantage of subscriber spontaneity and dramatically increase take-rate for new services,” Sherbo added.