System and method for global traffic optimization in a network

• US 7,719,997 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2006
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Weinman, Joseph B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Frank
• Application Number:
  US11/617,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20080159159A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,237 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/00 Network traffic management; Network resource management

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for providing global traffic optimization for a mix of applications running at multiple locations connected by a WAN. Various techniques are provided via WAN accelerator, edge shapers, and WAN bandwidth, route, QoS, and packet control to maximize application performance while minimizing cost, in accordance with customer policy.

Claims

1. A system for optimizing global data traffic in a network environment, the system comprising:

a plurality of applications connected by a telecommunication network (WAN), wherein said applications residing at a plurality of environments and said WAN is managing one or more control groups;

at least one edge processor coupled to an environment for conducting one or more functions to reduce load of the global data traffic to fulfill performance objectives of an application;

at least one shaper coupled to the edge processor to prioritize the global data traffic at ingress points to the network to fulfill the performance objectives of the application;

a network control coupled to the WAN to activate and direct the control groups of the WAN;

a monitoring and management control module for receiving real time data from the edge processor, shaper and the WAN via the network control;

said module determining actual performance of the application performance objectives;

a policy engine coupled to the module for specifying the performance objectives of the applications; and

a cost model coupled to the module and the policy engine for providing pricing information on at least one of the data traffic, the edge processor, the shaper, the WAN, and the costs of processing or transporting the data traffic for each said application.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said applications comprise at least one application selected from the group consisting of Voice over IP, Video over IP, desktop word processor, graphics, spreadsheet, customer relationship management, and high definition video conferencing.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said environment comprises at least one environment selected from the group consisting of thin client, thick client running a browser, a scale out server, mainframe, and codec for video conferencing.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said application comprise a storage application and said environment comprise a storage subsystem.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said control group comprises at least one control group selected from the group consisting of bandwidth control, QoS control, packet control and route control.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said functions comprise at least one function selected from the group consisting of caching, protocol spoofing, predictive caching, and TCP/IP offloading.

7. A method for optimizing global data traffic in a network environment, the method comprising:

(a) receiving instructions to determine performance objectives of at least one application;

(b) determining whether performance objectives of said at least one application are being met;

(c) in an edge processor coupled to an environment in which the application is running, edge processing to reduce the load of the data traffic if the performance objectives of said at least one application are not being met;

(d) determining whether performance objectives of said at least one application are being met;

(e) increasing available bandwidth on existing routes of the data traffic if the performance objectives of said at least one application are not being met;

(f) determining whether performance objectives of said at least one application are being met;

(g) rerouting data traffic along alternate routes if there is no additional bandwidth available on said existing routes and if the performance objectives of said at least one application are not being met;

(h) determining whether performance objectives of said at least one application are being met;

(i) in a shaper coupled to the edge processor, edge shaping to prioritize data traffic at ingress points to the network if there is no bandwidth available on both said existing and said alternate routes and if the performance objectives of said at least one application are not being met;

(j) determining whether performance objectives of said at least one application are being met;

(k) using QoS control and packet control to handle packet data traffic if the performance objectives of said at least one application are not being met;

(l) determining whether performance objectives of said at least one application are being met;

(m) generating an alert signal if the performance objectives of said at least one application are not being met.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising repeating step (b) if the performance objectives of said at least one application are not being met.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising specifying the performance objectives of each said application.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising providing pricing information on data traffic for each said application.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein said functions comprise at least one function selected from the group consisting of caching, predictive caching, protocol spoofing and TCP/IP offloading.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein said functions are conducted based on a pricing information of the for each said application.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein said functions are conducted without any constraints.

14. The method of claim 7 wherein said using the QoS control comprise prioritizing packets of the data traffic.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein said using the packet control comprise filtering packets of the data traffic based on the characteristics of the packet.