* Ipsum Networks links app and service flows to performance
Route analysis vendor Ipsum Networks last week upgraded its flagship product to help customers monitor and analyze the real-time flow of applications and services on their IP nets by using preset definitions.
Route Dynamics 2.2, software embedded on a network appliance, monitors enterprise routing and gathers data at the IP layer. The tool monitors and records what and how routers communicate and sets off alarms when performance drops below specified levels. Now the product not only can alert on the availability of routers and the network, but it can also show how traffic flows between routers directly affect the performance of critical applications and business services.
“We focus on how packet capture and route analysis apply to application and service availability,” says Frank Hayes, vice president of marketing at Ipsum. “Route Dynamics allows customers to set baselines on a single application flow, monitor critical services and know where IP traffic is going.”
New features in Version 2.2 let network managers specify services to be monitored, generate reports on services and applications, and perform root-cause analysis using data from the IP flow and physical devices.
The Service Baselining feature helps customers set specific routes and thresholds on a service, which can be defined as any process, application or end-user request that must be completed. With this feature, network managers will be notified when any traffic flow involved in the service doesn’t meet set standards, and the software will identify the root cause of the performance failure.
Another new feature, Service Availability Reporting, lets network managers generate reports on the availability and performance of services, applications and the overall network. And the enhanced root-cause analysis in the product can show the relationship between the physical devices and the logical IP infrastructure when supporting a service or application traffic flow.
The full product incorporates two devices, IP Listeners and the Multi-area Path Appliance. IP Listeners are probes that gather routing data, and the appliance stores the data and makes it available for console display. Network managers tap into the data via a Web browser.
Available now, Route Dynamics 2.2 costs about $35,000 to start, and pricing depends on the number of devices purchased.
