Emperative's CMX IP Address Manager helps broadband ISPs define and manage multi-tiered services and deliver applications. It is priced on a per-subscriber basis.

by Wayne Kawamoto [November 6, 2001]

Emperative, a provider of on-demand, network and service provisioning software, announced the release of CMX IP Address Manager, the company's new IP address management system. The software promises to help broadband service providers easily define and manage multi-tiered and on-demand service offerings.

According to Emerative, its CMX IP Address Manager system helps broadband providers meet basic requirements and evolve by enabling them todo the following:

1. easily create and deliver complex IP services
2. move customers between classes of service without service interruptions to other subscribers
3. manage large distributed networks of application level servers

Emperative designed its CMX IP Address Manager to meet the demands of broadband providers. As an integrated solution, it should allow broadband providers to manage IP addresses as subscribers increase and service offerings become more complex.

As an example, the company claims that a broadband provider with 2 million subscribers should be able to manage over 50 million IP address transactions a day for modems and PCs. Emperative also says that CMX meets the basic requirement of leasing out millions of static and dynamic addresses per day and exceeds the industry benchmarks of leasing 24,000 addresses per minute.

IP addresses, the most basic element of broadband services and the identity of each broadband subscriber and their services, provide access to the network and define service packages. Emperative says that as broadband subscribers grow and new services such as IP telephony, gaming, interactive video, and streaming media are prepared for rollout, traditional methods for managing IP addresses fail.

According to Emperative, IP address management requires oversight of the DHCP (dynamic host control protocol) and bootfile characteristics of a subscriber's account, including bandwidth level, ISP selection, and quality of service. These services are grouped in "policies" or classes of service. Emperative's CMX IP Address Manager is designed to allow broadband providers to evolve by enabling subscribers and PCs to belong to multiple policy groups.

Emperative says that traditional solutions—borrowed from enterprise DHCP applications—only allow for best-effort, equal access to the network. Therefore, dividing services into complex hierarchies of voice, data, and on-demand services, and managing them are difficult or even impossible with current systems. Furthermore, broadband providers may miss valuable revenue opportunities if their ability to manage IP addresses does not evolve with their billion-dollar investment in network upgrades.

A service provider using a traditional enterprise-centric solution that offers four bandwidth levels options, three application types, and five ISP choices (across ten subnetworks), needs to define over 600 policy groups. With CMX, the company says that only twelve policy groups representing options at any level of the network would need to be assigned, which significantly reduces network management complexity and error.

Open access, DOCSIS(TM) 1.1, an advanced cable modem standard designed to allow for dynamic bandwidth management, and PacketCable, a standard for delivery of advanced services, may increase the complexity of IP address management even further than today's requirements. Emperative says that its CMX dynamic class management capabilities will simplify the creation, control, and assignment of IP options so providers can meet the requirements of their customers and obtain new opportunities with high-margin services.

"CMX answers the broadband ISP's need to more effectively manage IP addresses," says Randy Fuller, Emperative vice president of marketing. "Open access, on-demand services, and multi-tiered services significantly increase the complexity of managing IP addresses. Emperative offers a roadmap for ISPs to manage today's growing IP address pools and tomorrow's hierarchies of policy groups that exceed the limits of enterprise-centric solutions. Simply, if broadband providers can not manage the Internet's most basic unit-the IP address-the $50 billion spent to upgrade the physical plant will have gone for naught."

"For broadband to reach the reliability and ease-of-use levels needed to reach the mass market and build profitable businesses, new approaches to IP address management must be taken," said Abraham Gutman, Emperative CEO and president. "Emperative has introduced a solution that will give broadband providers the flexibility to grow their networks and introduce new services."

Availability and pricing
The CMX IP Address Manager is available now and priced at $4 per subscriber for a 50,000 user license. After the first 50,000 subscribers are added to the service, the ISP continues to buy per-subscriber licenses.

—End