Packet Design improves software with BGP support

Packet Design this week will add features to its flagship route control product to enable enterprise network managers to add Border Gateway Protocol routing to their analytics arsenal.

Route Explorer 2.0 now supports BGP, in addition to two interior gateway protocols: Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Intermediate System-Intermediate System (IS-IS). The support for BGP, the routing protocol used by virtually all routers for communication between service providers and enterprise domains, enables Route Explorer to give network managers a more complete view of the entire route traffic takes.

“A lot of these performance management tools can tell you that you have a problem, but if it’s in the network layer they can’t do much about it. Network managers can use Route Explorer to look at what’s been happening in the network layer,” says Doug Brent, CEO of Packet Design. The new BGP module incorporates all new reports, alerts and analysis features.

Packet Design’s Route Explorer is a Layer 3 network appliance that “listens” to the routing protocols, showing a picture of path changes and routing anomalies as they occur. Users can “rewind” and “replay” the network topology to see what routing events occurred when, so that intermittent problems can be pinpointed. Or they can simulate what-if scenarios, taking down links one by one along a given routing path to show potential changes.

Also new to Version 2.0 is an integrated view of multi-protocol networks, so network managers can see complex problems across different network types. For example, if a company supports more than one intranet or touches partner networks, Route Explorer can show the traffic paths across the multiple networks.

The company made Route Explorer available in three flavors: Route Explorer Campus Edition for enterprise networks of up to 20 routers; Route Explorer Enterprise Edition for networks of up to 50 routers; and Route Explorer Internet Edition for enterprise or ISP networks of up to 50 routers.

Campus Edition comes with one Interior Gateway Protocol routing analysis module (either OSPF or IS-IS) and single-user operation, and starts at $19,000. Enterprise Edition comes with an OSPF or IS-IS routing analysis module, offers concurrent multi-user operation and is priced at $35,000. And Internet Edition comes with the BGP routing analysis module, offers concurrent multi-user operations and is priced at $50,000.