Net neutrality: An unmanaged Internet is not the same a neutral Internet, competing demands have to be reconciled

[Marketwire] During a panel discussion on net neutrality yesterday at the Toronto Congress Centre, Sandvine's chief executive officer, Dave Caputo, explained why an unmanaged Internet is not neutral. The net neutrality panel also included Mike Lee, chief strategy officer, Rogers Communications and Skype's Christopher Libertelli, senior director, government and regulator affairs of the Americas.

During the panel discussion Mr. Caputo described five truths that explain why reasonable network management is critical for today's evolved Internet:

Network congestion happens;
Each application places different demands on the Internet;
Subscribers' usage is not equal;
Capacity increases alone do not solve network congestion; and
Service providers need to protect the quality of experience for all subscribers and applications.

The panel discussion centered on the state of net neutrality in Canada as well as potential unintended consequences if legislation was introduced.

"The Internet is a common resource characterized by competing demands from disparate applications and subscribers. Left unmanaged, bandwidth intensive applications and their users will win the competition for network resources every time. The only way the Internet can approach neutrality, where each subscriber and application are allocated the resources they need when they need them, is through reasonable network management," said Mr. Caputo.

In his presentation, Caputo explained how all packets are not created equal. Certain applications are specifically designed to maximize use of available bandwidth – like a truck that expands to overtake adjacent lanes of a highway as soon as they become available. These applications introduce latency and jitter (variable delays in data transmission) into the network that harm the quality of interactive, real-time applications like voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and online video gaming. Interactive applications are closely associated with subscribers' overall sense of network quality, because subscribers immediately notice any degradation in the service.

Service providers and legislators alike are looking to advanced policy control techniques to help manage this inherent competition for network resources so that the best possible quality of experience is preserved for the maximum number of subscribers.

"While current Canadian law is protecting consumers well, the net neutrality debate is healthy," said Mr. Caputo. "The Internet is successful because it continues to evolve. Ongoing industry discussions around congestion management using network policy controls will be necessary to continue to maximize and protect the consumer Internet experience."

For more information about network policy management and congestion management techniques please visit www.sandvine.com.

Sandvine CEO: "Unmanaged Is Not Neutral" - Sandvine presented at net neutrality panel at the 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit