Service providers must expand their deployment of specific technologies aimed at making networks more intelligent, according to industry analyst Yankee Group.

The key drivers of an intelligent IP transport network are convergence, proliferation of IP video and service personalisation.

This combination represents a powerful motivator for service providers to allocate more investment to technologies that increase awareness of subscribers, services and applications in traffic-engineered, policy-enabled architectures.

Yankee analysts said that operators must distribute policy enforcement functions to deeper reaches within their networks to build an intelligent 'anywhere network'.

This will enable more predictable and consistent service quality which can adapt to shifts in service demand and application use.

A critical component of 'anywhere network' intelligence is deep packet inspection technology, according to Mark Bieberich, vice president of Yankee's Enabling Technologies group.

"Without distributed intelligence in IP networks, service providers will be reduced to the role of a common bandwidth broker with billions in stranded assets," he said.

"As migration toward a converged, next-generation IP network gains momentum, it is clearer than ever that an intelligent IP transport layer is one of the pillars of using the 'anywhere network' to transform service provider business. "

Bieberich added that service providers are adding intelligence to the IP network because reliance on oversubscription in response to service demand fluctuations is "economically unfeasible and operationally cumbersome".