Today, Applied Broadband announced the availability of its Pipeline Universal Broadband IP Detail Record (IPDR) engine.

Applied Broadband founder Jason Schnitzer said Pipeline was specifically designed for cable operators that need to collect, process, normalize and distribute massive amounts of IPDR data for visibility into their networks, devices, services and subscribers’ overall experience. Schnitzer said Pipeline is currently deployed with an unnamed, top-10 cable operator in the United States.

“What we’re doing is not building applications, but building a collection layer that is designed to favor cable operators,” Schnitzer said to CED . “Pipeline is a shim, or collection layer, between a CMTS (cable modem termination system) and northbound OSS/BSS applications that rely on IPDR data in the service management layer. We don’t build IPDR applications; we build the shin to enable northbound applications.”

With support for the IPDR streaming protocol – a mandatory requirement for DOCSIS 3.0 equipment and proposed for tru2way, enhanced television (ETV), Project Canoe and other initiatives – the collection and analysis of IPDR data is the critical foundation for a variety of cable operators’ business needs, ranging from metered billing, commercial services and targeted advertising to so-called ‘fair use’ bandwidth management.

According to Applied Broadband, the challenge is that today’s networks already support millions of cable modem devices with multiple services per device, requiring an operator to collect and manage billions of IPDR records per day and feed them into multiple OSS/BSS applications across their organization.

Developed in consultation with major cable operators and technology vendors, Pipeline provides a modular IPDR collection layer specifically designed for the scale and reliability needs of today’s broadband cable networks.

Unlike existing IPDR collectors that provide limited functionality and are tied to a single OSS/BSS application, Schnitzer said Pipeline has a service-oriented architecture approach to collect and route IPDR record streams from millions of cable modems, enhanced multimedia terminal adapters and set-top boxes, and Pipeline routes a single IPDR data stream to multiple OSS/BSS applications, such as billing, customer service and product management.

The software-based Pipeline platform was designed to be used on low-cost, x86-based server systems from companies such as IBM, Dell and Sun Microsystems. The software works with either Solaris or Red Hat operating systems.

Applied Broadband has integrated Pipeline with current CMTS manufacturers, including Cisco Systems, Motorola, Arris and Casa Systems, as well as BigBand’s discontinued CMTS. 

On the policy side, Applied Broadband has partnered with Sandvine and Camiant.