/

Xedia joins bandwidth mgmt. fracas

By Denise Pappalardo
Network World, 11/17/97

Littleton, Mass. - Xedia Corp. is expected to introduce a new bandwidth management device that will let network managers fine-tune their IP connections.

Xedia's Access Point 10 will allow users to better control their 56K bit/sec to 10M bit/sec intranet or Internet links.

Using Xedia's class-based queuing (CBQ) management capabilities, users can dedicate bandwidth to specific traffic types. For example, an Access Point 10 user could dedicate 30% of its intranet or Internet connection to TCP traffic, 30% to telnet traffic, 30% to File Transfer Protocol (FTP) traffic and 10% to all other traffic. This way, managers can ensure critical traffic is not slowed down by Web surfers and other less-critical uses.

Businesses also can use the Access Point products to divvy up bandwidth among departments or offices. This is how XS Bandwidth Associates, of New York, is using one of Xedia's first products, Access Point 45. XS Bandwidth has two T-3, 45M bit/sec connections it uses to provide In-ternet access to the hundreds of residents of the Trump Towers in Manhattan. ``We guarantee all residents will have 64K bit/sec worth of Internet bandwidth all of the time," said Jimmy Rogers, director of sales at XS Bandwidth.

CBQ also automatically ad-justs to traffic bursts by allowing Access Point 10 to borrow unused bandwidth. For example, if a large portion of users were downloading FTP files off the Internet, pushing its 30% ceiling, the device automatically would borrow bandwidth from another piece of the IP pipe if available. Access Point 10 always will give dedicated applications top priority.

Access Point 10, for enterprise networking, is equipped with two 10M bit/sec Ethernet ports. The device sits behind a customer's router where their IP link is connected, said Karen Barton, vice president of marketing at Xedia.

Join the club

Xedia is not the only vendor with bandwidth management products. Packeteer, Inc., of Campbell, Calif., was the first to roll out IP bandwidth-shaping products. Packeteer's PacketShaper hardware devices let users dedicate parts of their IP bandwidth to specific applications and IP addresses. Packeteer's products are based on its proprietary TCP rate control technology.

Xedia: (508) 952-6000; Packeteer: (408) 364-0197.