How the FCC's ruling against Comcast could affect corporate networks

Insightful analysis by consultants Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler, plus links to the latest WAN news headlines

Last time, we discussed the FCC's Aug. 1 ruling that Comcast was acting improperly in using deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to selectively block certain types of traffic, especially concentrating on peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic that might be considered to be competitive with its own service offerings. Today, we'll offer some further opinions on this ruling and its impact on corporate networks.

Perhaps some of the best news for corporate network managers is that this is proof that equipment designed for DPI actually works – and evidently works well. So if you decide that you need more control for P2P traffic on your corporate network, this seems to be quite an endorsement. And, again pointing out that we’re not lawyers, there seems to us to be a fundamental difference in the ability to filter traffic on your own corporate network and on public networks.

Also, even though this ruling literally applies only to Comcast and its network practices, in our non-legal opinion, we see no logical reason that this wouldn’t indeed set a precedent for all ISPs. So this seems to be especially important for all U.S.-based traffic. And, of course, this does raise the question of practices for international networks. We now have the proof that DPI can be quite effective, so we anticipate that this will end up with yet another country-by-country parameter to be dealt with.

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Last time, we discussed the FCC's Aug. 1 ruling that Comcast was acting improperly in using deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to selectively block certain types of traffic, especially concentrating on peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic that might be considered to be competitive with its own service offerings. Today, we'll offer some further opinions on this ruling and its impact on corporate networks.

Perhaps some of the best news for corporate network managers is that this is proof that equipment designed for DPI actually works – and evidently works well. So if you decide that you need more control for P2P traffic on your corporate network, this seems to be quite an endorsement. And, again pointing out that we’re not lawyers, there seems to us to be a fundamental difference in the ability to filter traffic on your own corporate network and on public networks.

Also, even though this ruling literally applies only to Comcast and its network practices, in our non-legal opinion, we see no logical reason that this wouldn’t indeed set a precedent for all ISPs. So this seems to be especially important for all U.S.-based traffic. And, of course, this does raise the question of practices for international networks. We now have the proof that DPI can be quite effective, so we anticipate that this will end up with yet another country-by-country parameter to be dealt with.

This issue seems to be especially relevant for discussion this week in the midst of the Olympics and the temptation of employees to watch their favorite sport at work over the corporate network. And while these applications might or might not use P2P technology (like BitTorrent), it raises the whole question again of trying to distinguish business computing from recreational computing. For more on this topic, there’s a very good paper, “Distinguishing Business Use of the Network from Recreational Use,” available at Webtorials.

Next time we’ll finish this discussion with a few parting comments (for the moment) on P2P applications.

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Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Jim Metzler is vice president of Ashton, Metzler & Associates.