* Using data compression to get more bandwidth out of your WANs
Data compression is one the most reliable and cost effective ways to squeeze more bandwidth out of your WANs.
According to our Special Focus author Tim Greene (tgreene@nww.com) makers of specialty compression equipment such as Expand Networks, Peribit Networks and ITWorx share a basic concept:
Their appliances examine network traffic for patterns that repeat and then replace them with shorter patterns. These abbreviations reduce the number of bits that cross the wire, easing congestion. Depending on the type of traffic, compression can reduce it by more than 95%, with vendors promising to cut traffic at least in half.
Peribit and Expand have added basic traffic-shaping to their equipment, and traffic-shaping specialist Packeteer has added compression. A recent study by NetsEdge Research Group said that in 2002 Expand and Peribit dominated the market. Expand alone accounted for 87% of all compression products shipped last year, according to the study, which found that total spending on compression products in 2002 was between $27 million and $33 million.
Next year, though, enterprise buyers can expect to have more vendors to choose from as the market grows. “While 2002 was a horserace between two vendors, 2003 is shaping up to be a full field of players (Expand, Peribit, Packeteer, ITWorx, Cisco and more to come),” the study says.
For more on thisstory see: https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0616specialfocus.html
