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Network performance optimization is inching closer to the mainstream, as users discover improved return on investment and better application response times from a variety of new offerings.
This week, WAN optimization leader Packeteer Inc. will launch a high-end version of its PacketShaper appliance that supports 1G-bps speeds and hundreds of remote sites. Meanwhile, smaller Peribit Networks Inc. is adding a new version of its Sequence Reducer appliance aimed at branch offices and business DSL.
Each new tool is designed to meet growing user demand for offerings that cover a range of enterprise WAN links, analysts say. As customers see the benefits of the multifunction tools, which provide compression, monitoring, packet capture, QOS (quality-of-service) filtering, prioritization and more, they are moving beyond their one- and two-box deployments.
“Initially we deployed [PacketShaper 10000] for just a couple of sites. We liked what we saw so much, we decided to go networkwide,” said Packeteer user Brent Olson, senior IT systems integration analyst at the state of Idahos Department of Health and Welfare in Boise.
Packeteers new PacketShaper 10000-series appliance provides 1G-bps full-duplex connectivity and can support compression to hundreds of remote sites. It handles up to 1.4 million concurrent flows and provides monitoring, bandwidth management and traffic acceleration for large enterprise data centers, service providers core networks and universities Internet edges, said officials of the Cupertino, Calif., company.
Packeteer also updated the software for its appliances with a new adaptive response function that can watch for anomalies in traffic patterns and automatically take actions such as starting packet capture for diagnosis.
Packeteer 7 adds an optional application-flow monitor that can identify different flow types.
Pricing for the 10000 series, which is available now, starts at $36,000 and ranges up to $75,000.
At the other end of the data rate spectrum, Peribits new SR-15 Sequence Reducer appliance supports 64K-bps links for branch offices at a $1,895 entry-level price.
The Santa Clara, Calif., company also enhanced its Periscope software with new WAN monitoring and usage reporting that simplify troubleshooting. In addition, Periscope 5.0 allows users to collect and store usage data for up to a year for capacity planning.
The SR-15 ships next month, and Periscope 5.0 ships later this month.