IP software provider Caspian has put together an approach to solving the Net neutrality debate that uses multimedia traffic management to assure fairness to network operators and to content providers and consumers of broadband access.

Dubbed the “Fair Use Policy Framework,” the Caspian approach establishes a hierarchy of bandwidth management policies that dynamically assigns available bandwidth equally among active users of a given network resource. It also allows for network providers to offer tiered services without degrading standard offerings.

This technological approach to the heated debate over who controls how Internet bandwidth is assigned and paid for has earned the endorsement of some of those concerned about Net neutrality, including the VON Coalition.

“The Caspian Framework does an excellent job of addressing the various concerns expressed by all parties in the heated Net neutrality debate,” said Staci Pies, president of the VON Coalition, in a prepared statement. “The debate has deteriorated to the point where the many theoretical arguments now totally ignore the need for commonsense solutions to the real-world problems. With its solid and pragmatic approach to deploying policy-based bandwidth management, the Caspian framework is fully capable of delivering what its name suggests: fair use for all.”

The Fair Use Policy Framework builds on work Caspian has done with its traffic management software in Asia, helping network operators use policy-based network management to deliver multimedia services to the masses. It operates on a couple of basic principles: First, on the access side, all available bandwidth is dynamically assigned in equal parts to all active users.

“Best-effort Internet service is a statistical and random free-for-all, and we find that quality varies quite a bit, which is why it’s not good for video,” said Junaid Islam, vice president of marketing for Caspian Networks. “Also, video can easily crush other lightweight applications, from surfing to VoIP, because it can grab more bandwidth. The algorithm for guaranteed minimum looks at users that are active and gives them equal slices. It’s a practical compromise solution. Because we know the threshold of equal slice, we can compute the minimum you would always get. That’s good for the industry, and very practical, and transparent as a model.”

Providers of bandwidth-hungry content, such as video, would then have a range of choices over how to deliver that content, Islam said. They can recode their video to fit into that small minimum slice, using available coding technology, they can time-shift content delivery to a time of day when the network is less crowded or, they can choose to buy a higher tier of service from a network operator.

“We know from our experience in Asia that the network can handle narrowband video today,” he said. “There’s no reason why the existing backbone with existing capacity can’t handle video, with the right traffic management.”

In the optimum circumstance, network operators would work with content developers and open their networks to a broad range of applications that would drive up network usage and therefore revenues, Islam said. Caspian has seen that approach succeed in Asia with companies such as NTT DoKoMo.

The Fair Use Policy Framework also builds in prioritization of some traffic, such as emergency calls or CALEA requests.

Caspian has had the framework vetted by legal experts, Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP in Washington, D.C., and it is in compliance with federal and state regulations, FCC policies and existing court decisions, Islam added. His company is actively talking with network operators here, although its primary work to date has been in Asia.

“We know we can do this,” he said. “But it isn’t just Caspian, other companies have traffic management as well.”

A copy of the Caspian proposal, titled “Fair Use Policy Framework: A Nondiscriminatory and Noninvasive Approach to Managing Internet Service Congestion in Full Compliance with U.S. Law and Federal Communications Commission Policy,” is available on Caspian’s Web site.