Product header PACE 2

R&S®PACE 2

Advanced protocol and application
classification with metadata extraction
for application-aware networking

Next-gen DPI engine R&S®PACE 2

R&S®PACE 2 by ipoque, a Rohde & Schwarz company, is an advanced protocol and application classification engine based on next-gen deep packet inspection (DPI) technology. The DPI engine can be easily integrated into any networking and cybersecurity solution to gain real-time IP network traffic visibility up to layer 7 and beyond.

Identify and classify thousands of applications and protocols and extract metadata in real time, even if traffic is encrypted or obfuscated. Weekly signature updates combined with continuous performance and reliability testing ensure that R&S®PACE 2 offers the highest traffic detection rate on the market. Get a complete view of the applications running on a network and enhance your solution with powerful application visibility to analyze, manage and optimize IP network traffic.

By embedding the R&S®PACE 2 engine, you can keep up with the rapid growth of IP traffic rates and concentrate on your core competencies. Save development costs and accelerate time to market with built-in DPI from ipoque.

Build and innovate faster with easy-to-integrate DPI software


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R&S®PACE 2 at a glance

  • Written in C without vendor lock-in and with well-defined APIs
  • Small memory footprint: only 410 bytes per network flow
  • High performance and scalability with up to 14 Gbit/s per core
  • Platform-agnostic, supporting x86, ARM, Cavium Octeon, Power PC etc.
  • Runs on Unix-based operating systems such as Linux, Mac, FreeBSD, etc.
  • Future-proof: classifies encrypted (TLS 1.3, DoH, ESNI etc.) and obfuscated traffic
  • High traffic detection accuracy and reliability with virtually no false positives
  • Works in cloud and virtualized architectures, supporting frameworks such as DPDK and VPP
  • Always up to date: weekly signatures updates

A future-proof DPI engine tailored to your needs

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R&S®PACE 2 features & plug-ins

    • Flow data exporter plug-in: Supports IPFIX and sFlow
    • mobile tethering detection plug-in: Detect devices behind routers using tethering, including smartphones using mobile tethering
    • First packet classification: Classify IP traffic via DNS and service caching methods using the very first packet of a flow
    • Dynamic upgrade: Receive live updates without interruptions, integrating weekly software releases during runtime
    • Extension interface: Implement your own DPI signatures with ipoque’s Custom Service Classifier (CSC) using easy, pre-defined criteria to smoothly extend network visibility on-the-fly
    • Multiprocessing: R&S®PACE 2 is designed for symmetric multiprocessing systems and supports uniform (UMA) and non-uniform memory access (NUMA)
    • Decapsulation, defragmentation, reordering: Packet/flow preparation before classification starts
    • Memory management: Optimize memory usage individually
  • Fast path: If no additional processing is necessary, Fast path bypasses all upcoming packets of a flow after the flow has been classified
  • Client-server indication: Track internal network users in a targeted manner to significantly reduce memory requirements
  • Unidirectional packet processing: Support of single-sided traffic (improve the detection rate if traffic is only seen in one direction)
  • Flow and subscriber tables: Built-in high-performance hash table with timeout
  • SSL session ID tracker: Improve SSL classification results
  • Statistic QoS measures for TCP traffic: TCP handshake measurements, out-of-order & retransmission counters
  • RTP performance measures: Loss fraction, jitter & RT(C)P statistics
  • Metadata dissectors: IP, TCP, RTP, AMR, H.263/4, RTCP, HTTP, MP3, MP4, ID3 dissectors
  • and many more
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Benefits of licensing the ipoque DPI engine

  • Stay ahead of the competition by leveraging market-leading DPI technology
  • Automatically identify applications without manual work
  • Be up-to-date with recent changes in applications and protocols
  • Accelerate time to market and reduce R&D cost through quick integration
  • On-site application engineering and performance optimization consulting
  • Rely on flexible SLAs and influence the R&S®PACE 2 product road map
  • Expand your solution with subscriber-level traffic visibility enabled by R&S®GSRM

The highest traffic detection rate on the market

Only an up-to-date DPI library ensures accurate traffic classification

The frequency of DPI library updates directly impacts the effectiveness and accuracy of network performance and security reports. Our DPI engine R&S®PACE 2 ensures the highest traffic detection rate on the market by maintaining a high level of classification accuracy at all times. This is possible thanks to weekly signature updates that can be integrated into the DPI library smoothly during runtime.

We ensure that no application remains undetected by automated traffic monitoring, constantly being on the lookout for new application releases and testing their behavior on different devices, operating systems and networks. Additionally, our existing classifications are continuously measured for performance and reliability. Customers from different areas and verticals worldwide profit from virtually no false positives guaranteed by R&S®PACE2.

To address the traffic visibility challenges introduced by encryption, ipoque has introduced encrypted traffic intelligence (ETI). ETI is embedded our the cutting-edge DPI engine R&S®PACE 2. Encrypted traffic intelligence combines machine learning, deep learning and high dimensional data analysis with advanced caching methods to identify and classify underlying traffic flows. By combining ETI with behavioural, statistical and heuristic analyses, R&S®PACE 2 is able to identify protocols, applications and services across encrypted traffic, in real time.

Our protocol expertise includes extensive coverage of VPN, anonymizer and DNS tunneling protocols. The broad classification portfolio also includes machine-to-machine (M2M), IT, IoT and OT protocols as well as countless business and mobile applications and application service types across all verticals and regions. For a full list of all protocols and applications recognized by R&S®PACE 2, please get in touch.

Use cases for application awareness enabled by R&S®PACE 2

The DPI engine R&S®PACE 2 is a critical enabler for a more secure and connected world. It can be embedded in a variety of networking and cybersecurity solutions such as SD-WAN, SASE, firewalls, vEPC, intrusion detection systems or wireless access points. The multitude of use cases and deployments reflects the adaptability, flexibility and scalability of R&S®PACE 2. DPI-powered application awareness offers you the flexibility you need to handle many functionalities that require a focused analysis of specific applications and protocols, including:

  • Traffic analytics and management
  • Application performance monitoring and control
  • Application-aware routing
  • Policy enforcement
  • Application-level security
  • Threat detection and malware protection
  • Tiered pricing
  • QoS and QoE optimization
  • Content filtering and parental control
  • … and many more

In our blog section we regularly shed light on the advancements of our DPI technology and use cases.

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A service & support you can count on

With R&S®PACE 2, we offer a service you can trust to keep your projects running at full pace. Our experts address your individual challenges with a detailed understanding of your product and business needs. Equipped with intimate knowledge of the R&S®PACE 2 technology embedded in networking solutions, our team is available around the clock to diagnose and resolve technical problems rapidly and to plan future support actions that reduce your long-term maintenance costs. Stay operative with proactive service and support options, adaptable service level agreements (SLAs) and our global team of experts who are trained and professionally qualified to meet your needs.

World’s top tech companies utilize R&S®PACE 2

The R&S®PACE 2 engine is used in award-winning products by Rohde & Schwarz and many of the world’s top tech companies such as Barracuda Networks. Watch the interview to find out why Barracuda has been licensing the ipoque DPI engine for over ten years now.

Get started with R&S®PACE 2

Tired of maintaining your in-house DPI? Missing signatures in your DPI library? Is your DPI turning blind due to growing encryption rates? Whatever the reason you are unhappy with your current DPI software may be, tackle these problems with the next-gen DPI engine R&S®PACE 2 by ipoque. Our integration process includes a free proof-of-concept (PoC) phase that enables you to test the R&S®PACE 2 engine and validate its benefits within your solution. Integration examples and an internal tracking component allow you to test the next-generation DPI software without much effort.

Contact us today for pricing information, a free evaluation or a product demo.

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