* WAN traffic management requirements heat up
The need for WAN traffic management is heating up, according to a report published by APM Advisors last month. The research and consulting firm writes: “Until organizations architect plans to manage the chaos within their systems, the current generation of traffic management solutions will provide enough value to warrant the capital investment.”
The need for WAN traffic management is heating up, according to a report published by APM Advisors last month. The research and consulting firm writes: “Until organizations architect plans to manage the chaos within their systems, the current generation of traffic management solutions will provide enough value to warrant the capital investment.”
And IDC estimates that performance-management software revenue will experience a 7.4% annual growth rate over the next five years, reaching $4.48 billion by 2007.
Last time, we mentioned that many of the traffic-management appliance makers are enhancing their products, and we discussed moves by Allot Communications and Expand Networks. We’ll finish off this time with what rivals Packeteer and Sitara are up to:
* Packeteer
Last week, the company announced a higher-end version of its PacketShaper appliance. The PacketShaper 9500 replaces the company’s 8500 model, basically by bringing more horsepower to the table. Maximum throughput on the 8500, for example, was 200M bit/sec, while the 9500 supports 500M bit/sec full-duplex. The 8500 supported 300,000 IP flows, while the 9500 doubles that number to 600,000. And the 8500, depending on model, supported 100 or 200 compression tunnels; the newer model supports 300.
In addition, says a company spokesman, Packeteer has developed plug-ins that match the best compression algorithm to each type of application traffic. This sounds similar in nature to Expand Networks’ new compression plug-ins, discussed last time.
* Sitara
The company says it has three new products in beta test. QoSDirector 2.0 is a Windows-based central-site policy-management system to appease customers reluctant to use the company’s Sun Solaris-based system.
Also, new is the QWX 11000, a high-end platform designed for data center or other centralized locations where customers use OC-3 links, says a company spokesman. The product supports WAN traffic management at speeds to 155M bit/sec, up from the 100M-bit/sec speed that’s support in the company’s QWX 10000.
Finally, Sitara’s QoSWorks Version 2.2 release adds the ability to perform deep classification of Session Initiation Protocol traffic.
Note that at the upcoming NetWorld+Interop conference and exhibition, May 9-14 in Las Vegas, these and other traffic management companies will participate in the “Performance Pavilion” to demonstrate their products and provide short technical presentations.
