* BT Infonet rolls out Application Centric VPN offering
Global ISP BT Infonet is expanding its suite of IP VPN services with the addition of application-based configuration and monitoring tools.
BT Infonet’s Application Centric VPN offering is available only with IP VPN Secure, its private IP-based service built upon Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology. The new service is available immediately in 57 countries.
The managed service includes devices for optimizing application performance over the network as well as software that provides increased visibility and fine-grained controls for end users. The service is designed to help companies dynamically allocate VPN resources to meet the needs of key business applications.
“The focus here is on managing application performance,” says Jean-Noel Moneton, vice president of VPN Services for BT Infonet. “By giving the customer some level of visibility and some level of control, we end up giving him better network economics.”
BT Infonet’s service automatically recognizes more than 160 applications from leading vendors such as SAP, Oracle and Citrix. Users can discover what applications are running on their networks and then set priorities in terms of the class of service each application will receive.
The service uses a network appliance from Ipanema Technologies (which has BT Infonet as a minority shareholder) to optimize application performance in real time. It also uses EMC SMARTS software to automate network systems management and MetaSolv Software’s operation support system software.
“We’re using a set of standard software applications and hardware plus specific development by us to give end users the three components of application intelligence, visibility and control,” Moneton says.
The service provides real-time outage and performance alarms should the Application Centric VPN fail to meet its application performance targets. Users receive regular reports to see how various applications are performing as well as reports in response to particular problems. Other features of the Application Centric VPN service include support for compression, multicast and multiVPN.
The goal of Application Centric VPN is to allow customers to lower their bandwidth costs by right-sizing their networks. The service also ensures that networks meet business needs by aligning the applications that get the most bandwidth with business priorities.
The service is targeted at larger multinationals with at least 10 sites globally.
“We see it at the higher end of our market, for larger networks and for companies who right now have some hesitation about moving off of frame relay to IP VPNs,” Moneton says.
BT Infonet doesn’t have any customers for Application Centric VPN services yet, but the ISP does service a French pharmaceutical company that uses its regular VPN services in conjunction with Ipanema appliances.
Pricing for the Application Centric VPN depends on the number and type of sites taking advantage of the service. For a network with 20 sites – 11 in Europe, 5 in the U.S., 2 in Asia and 1 each in South America and Canada – the service would cost approximately $35,000 per month, BT Infonet says. This price includes the port and the IP Applications Engine at each site, all the monitoring and application controlling software, and the full suite of applications reporting. These prices are for T-1 comparable access, although the prices do not include the router or the local access line.
