Operator spending on deep-packet inspection solutions grew 23 percent to $728 million in 2013, with companies such as Sandvine, Allot, Cisco and Procera leading the charge.
Look for operator spending on DPI to top $2 billion in 2018, Infonetics Research forecasts.
“The deep packet inspection market, particularly the mobile opportunity, remains a dynamic one, with momentum driven by not only basic traffic management requirements, but also by the need to support new pricing and service offerings," says Shira Levine, directing analyst for service enablement and subscriber intelligence at Infonetics Research. “As this occurs, we’re seeing continued interest in embedding DPI functionality in applications such as security, video optimization and revenue and service assurance, which is driving demand for embedded solutions that provide advanced packet classification, such as Qosmos’ ixEngine and Procera’s NAVL."
Sandvine was No. 1 in market share last year, followed in order by Allot, Cisco and Procera, Levine said.
Virtualization also has the potential to be a major market driver – it can change DPI deployment strategies, allowing the technology to be deployed more cost-effectively throughout the network, Infonetics added.