Discover Enea Traffic Classification & Deep Packet Inspection
For Mobile Network Operators who seek to:
- Monetize and scale secure data access.
- Measure and manage network quality of service and user experience (QOS & QOE).
- Analyze encrypted traffic.
- Enable safe family, enterprise, IoT, and regulator-based policies.
Visibility, Control, and Monetization in an Encrypted Mobile World
In today’s mobile networks, the explosion of encrypted traffic and dynamic service usage is challenging the traditional way operators manage, monitor, and monetize data. More than 96% of mobile traffic is now encrypted, typically using protocols like TLS 1.3, ECH, QUIC, DOH or HTTP/2. While this enhances privacy and security for end-users, it makes it nearly impossible for operators to understand how their network is being used, what services are being accessed, and whether data packages are being consumed as intended.
Enea Traffic Classification and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) offers a modern, intelligent solution to the challenge of network traffic management. It goes beyond IP and port-based identification, providing fine-grained application, flow, and session classification—even for encrypted traffic. Delivered as a lightweight, virtualized component that fits seamlessly into modern networks, Enea’s solution unlocks deep visibility, policy control, and monetization opportunities for mobile operators without compromising encryption or user trust.
Visibility alone isn’t enough—actionability is equally critical. Enea’s solution provides inline policy enforcement at the user, device, session, or packet level. This allows operators to enforce policies with precision, including Quality of Service (QoS) shaping, session-aware blocking, and time-of-day or access plan-based policies, all while ensuring service integrity and customer satisfaction.
Why Enea Traffic Classification & DPI?
Enea’s solution for Network Traffic Classification and Deep Packet Inspection is not just a monitoring tool—it’s a strategic enabler for monetization, policy enforcement, and user experience. Built for the demands of modern mobile networks, it combines:
- Best-in-class traffic and session visibility.
- Real-time, inline enforcement capabilities.
- Cloud-native scalability and orchestration support.
- Powerful analytics and exportable insights.
- Support for encrypted (TLS 1.3, ECH, DOH, QUIC) and rapidly evolving traffic patterns.
Whether you’re modernizing your core, launching new service packages, or preparing for the next wave of 5G innovation—Enea gives you the intelligence, flexibility, and control to succeed.
From IP-Based to Application-Aware
With the rise of cloud and CDN-based services, traditional IP and APN (or in 5G, DNN) identifiers no longer provide sufficient granularity. One IP address may represent thousands of domains or services—think Google, Amazon, or Akamai. As a result, creating service packages based purely on network-level attributes often fails to reflect what the user is actually doing.
Enea’s solution addresses this by identifying not just the endpoint, but the application and activity. It can distinguish between messaging and voice calls within the same app, or classify different types of encrypted traffic based on protocol behavior and metadata—even when obfuscation techniques are used.
This enables operators to build and enforce truly app-aware data packages, such as free access to government services, zero-rated educational content, or secure enterprise apps—while still maintaining compliance with regional net neutrality rules.
Operators can enforce policies with precision, maintaining both service integrity and customer satisfaction.
A Foundation for Increased Monetization
The future of monetization is not about selling gigabytes of data—it’s about delivering access to specific services and experiences. Whether through sponsored data, loyalty bonuses, or partnerships with content providers, operators need to ensure that data allowances are used for the right services and not exploited or misused.
Enea Traffic Classifier makes this possible by enabling real-time enforcement of app-specific policies. For example, if a package includes access to job search portals or health services, the DPI engine ensures that only those services are zero-rated, preventing misuse for unrelated high-bandwidth activities like streaming video.
It also supports advanced analytics, enabling operators to track usage patterns per application or service category, monitor profitability, and design smarter, more competitive offers.
Built for a Virtualized Future
Legacy DPI tools were designed for fixed, hardware-bound environments. Enea’s DPI solution is built for the cloud-native, virtualized era, deployable on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and fully compatible with containerized and virtualized environments.
Placed in the Gi-LAN path, Enea Traffic Classifier acts as a virtual function component that can continuously or selectively inspect traffic, with minimal impact on performance. It supports service orchestration and chaining, allowing operators to trigger multiple services—like parental controls, ad insertion, or security filters—at a single traffic interception point.
This orchestration-friendly architecture reduces infrastructure overhead, avoids unnecessary latency, and enhances overall network agility.
Full Spectrum of Use Cases
Enea’s Traffic Classification and DPI capabilities support a wide array of high-value use cases that help operators stay competitive and secure in a complex environment:
Network Traffic Management & QoS
- Real-time QoS enforcement and shaping
- Session-aware blocking or prioritization
- Fair usage policy enforcement across mobile and fixed networks
- Enforcement of time-of-day or access plan-based policies
- Monitoring of call volumes for VoIP and other time-sensitive services
- Customized flow classification based on extensive metadata rules
Security & Fraud Prevention
- Detection of anonymizing proxies and domain fronting attempts
- Blocking of unwanted or malicious content/sites
- BYOD management with group-based content and app filtering
- SIMBox and signaling fraud detection
- Detection of unauthorized data tunneling or proxy use
Enterprise & B2B Control
- Device-aware protocol and app-based policies
- Segmentation by access plan, business category, or device group
- Support for thousands of enterprise APNs or DNNs with dynamic application recognition
Data Monetization & Service Innovation
- App-aware service bundles and sponsored data plans
- Enforcement of zero-rated service usage policies
- Tracking and metering of third-party content usage for partner billing
- Proactive monitoring of app usage trends to support service design
Policy and Reporting
- Real-time reporting dashboards with breakouts by protocol, policy, or classification
- Exportable reporting in multiple formats for business and regulatory needs
- Integrated DNS analysis for encrypted and unencrypted traffic
- Support for content categorization (e.g., gaming, streaming, productivity)
Intelligent Classification, Minimal Footprint
Enea Traffic Classifier delivers maximum intelligence with a minimal footprint in the mobile data path. Its continuous flow analysis and packet/session aggregation give operators a complete, real-time picture of user and device behavior across sessions, apps, and services.
It’s designed to support the most demanding mobile traffic profiles, adapting quickly to the exponential growth and diversification of protocols and app behaviors. Operators benefit from best-in-class classification accuracy, backed backed by Enea’s Qosmos ixEngine—the world’s most widely deployed DPI engine.
Enea DPI in Action: Regulatory, Commercial & Social Impact
As regulators such as Ofcom in the UK explore new guidelines for zero-rating essential services without violating net neutrality, solutions like Enea’s Traffic Classification and DPI are essential. Operators must strike a balance between openness and control, enabling access to vital content—like welfare programs or in-app calls for government services—while protecting the integrity of premium packages.
Enea makes that possible. By identifying the service and the activity within it, operators can ensure that what’s included in a data plan is used as intended—and that customers receive the experience they were promised.
In parallel, commercial success hinges on more than gigabytes. Associating a data plan with a known app brand (such as a music streaming service or delivery app) offers more perceived value than offering a block of generic data. With Deep Packet Inspection and traffic classification, that becomes possible—securely, efficiently, and in compliance with both regulation and market demand.
Discover Enea Data Traffic Filtering
As internet usage grows, mobile operators must provide more than just access. They must also deliver control. Enea’s Traffic Filter software enables Mobile Network Operators (MNOs & MVNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide real-time control of which internet sites may be appropriate, how much time (time of day/day of week) is allowed and blocks illegal or inappropriate (e.g. adult) content. This ensures safer browsing, meets regulatory requirements, and supports monetizable use cases such as parental controls and enterprise policies.
Want to Discuss?
Ready to unlock intelligent visibility and control for your mobile network? Contact Enea today to learn how our Deep Packet Inspection and Traffic Classification solution can help you secure your services, optimize your policies, and unlock new monetization opportunities.
Network DPI & QoE
Read more about how to enhance the user experience for the subscribers in your mobile network
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Operators seeking to improve their financial performance should consider Enea’s Traffic Filter solution as they migrate and scale into the networks of tomorrow
Enea Network Traffic Management Portfolio
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Enea Traffic Classifier
Packet, flow and session classification and management
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Would you like to know more about Enea’s software solutions for Network Traffic Management? Interested in discovering how our features could improve your specific use cases? Contact us to arrange a meeting with our network performance experts!