Internap offer supports links to multiple ISPs

Internap is introducing a consulting service to tune up business Internet connections at sites that have links to more than one ISP as a way to boost performance of their Web applications.

Called Professional Services, the offering combines customer network evaluation with advice on how to make sure traffic in and out of Web servers travels through the ISP that offers the best service at that time.

The service provider, which sells high-reliability, high-performance Internet connections among other programs, developed Professional Services based on its experience selling route-optimization gear to its customers. These customers had decided they wanted to buy the equipment but lacked expertise in Border Gateway Protocol (BGP ), the technology on which the route-optimization gear is based.

Internap's Flow Control Platform sits on corporate networks as a peer with WAN routers that are connected to more than one ISP, a setup called multihoming. The boxes monitor flows in and out of the sites to determine delay, and whether one of the ISPs can supply a faster or less expensive service. Based on customer-set policies, the devices can issue route table changes that divert traffic to the appropriate ISP.

Internap has obtained most of the route-control expertise through purchases last year of Sockeye Networks and NetVmg, two start-ups that specialized in this type of gear and Internet traffic analysis.

Properly setting the machines requires knowledge of BGP, talent that is in short supply, says Douglas Chadwick, CEO of hosting provider Dynamic Concepts in Aliso Viejo, Calif., which uses the service. Even if he could find qualified people to handle the gear, they would cost too much.

"If I had these people on staff, it might be four or five months before I had a customer who needed that expertise," he says. "I find it's more cost effective to have a virtual team of experts" through Internap.

The services are broken down into five categories: Multihoming Jump Start, Multihoming Optimizer, VoIP-readiness Assessment, VoIP Optimization and Global Application Optimization. The services cost $5,000, but the price is customized depending on individual customer circumstances. Hardware is extra.