From a classic network management point of view, the home/SOHO network has all the characteristics of unmanageability: no standard way of doing things; wide variations in users’ requirements and capabilities; an uncontrollable variety of connected, configured low-cost boxes; devices with no dedicated management ports or routines; and no-one to talk to who understands anything. The fact that users want to use the most advanced applications, such as video and Wi-Fi, makes it even more complicated.

• In the home, it is not enough to have the classic network management capabilities of FCAPS – Failure management, Configuration, Accounting, Performance and Security (according to ISO): In addition to FCAPS, problems must be corrected automatically.
• The task is complicated – Home broadband services include, in addition to high speed Internet, demanding real-time applications such as gaming, video, VoIP and, in the future, IPTV. 
  - Real-time applications mean that the home infrastructure must be managed for performance; connectivity alone is not enough. 
  - To ensure end-to-end real-time applications success, the service providers must be able to easily enforce their policies.
  - Additionally, even with its small scale, a typical home network may include more user profiles than a large, but well controlled, enterprise network: The range of profiles can include everything from teenagers’ music videos and gaming, to SOHO reliability must-haves, all in a single household. 
• Broadband is a widely-adopted technology, and most of its users are technologically neophyte. Hence, the complexity of broadband services operation must be hidden, letting the users concentrate on their applications. Other solutions that require consumers to follow complex self-help routines or spend time on the phone with the call centers, only raise dissatisfaction and churn. 
• The solution needs to be agnostic to service or box vendor and technology, with highly a modular structure that easily adapts to current and future needs. 
• Multiple problems – Due to their variation and operation by non-professionals, home networks may have more than one problem at the same time. Standard troubleshooting, based on vague symptoms, is tough even with a single problem cause, and close to impossible with multiple causes. Hence, the solution must handle all the problems simultaneously, in the right order – meaning that only root causes (not symptoms) must be handled. 
• When multiple failures occur simultaneously, a strict correction order must be followed to enable complete resolution. The order of correction depends on the home network topology, technologies involved and specific vendor implementation. For this reason, the solution must always include all the required knowledge to follow the proper order correctly. 
• The home broadband services environment is often a multi-provider environment with, for example, a broadband infrastructure supplier and an ISP, or it might support triple or quadruple play. Enure’s technology not only seamlessly supports each provider’s needs and policies, but it also accurately pinpoints every problem to its source, avoiding costly troubleshooting and finger-pointing, which consumers hate. 
• Unlike enterprise-grade networking devices, due to cost constraints boxes at the home do not include dedicated management ports. Management must be done in-band, meaning that data and control share the same link, and special solutions for controlling a disconnected device must be introduced to enable automatic corrections. For example, with a PPPoE-configured router, the modem acts as a “bridge”, and is unreachable from the PC. Consequently, when a problem appears in the modem, it cannot be identified from the PC. The solution must overcome such limitations. 
• Home/SOHO broadband services automation must include the PC: Enure’s technology handles the PC as another networking device, automatically taking care of all PC issues relevant to broadband services, including registry, DLL and drivers etc. 
• Automated operation of home networks must be all-inclusive. It must include all the network layers, from physical through Ethernet and IP, TCP and applications, and must handle connectivity, performance and service providers` policies. The solution needs to know what is proper – not only factory setup or most recent situation, but the complete range of proper values and setups allowed, including policies restrictions.