Service providers need to move beyond just transport and help customers address the actual services and applications that run over those connections. In an effort to do just that, XO Communications (XOHO) today is introducing new tools – called XO Applications Performance Management – that provide MPLS IP-VPN customers with more visibility into and control of their applications running over those networks. That can range from traffic such as voice over IP and video, to point-of-sale transactions, to business applications provided by the likes of Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and SAP (SAP).
The tools are based on Visual Up Time Select probes, which are installed at each customer location to do deep-packet inspection (DPI) and connect to a centralized server from Fluke Networks.
Business process management software company Metastorm is among the first customers using the tools.
Factors including rogue network applications, application misconfiguration, and computer viruses can result in poor performance, XO noted, but the real-time and historical network, server and application statistics provided through a private Web-based interface by XO Applications Performance Management can help customers identify and adjust to those and other issues.
Three tiers of service are being offered by XO. They sell for a $150 per location and greater range.
Tier 1, the network performance option, offers network layer troubleshooting alarms; analysis of physical access type, port and circuit; information on traffic flows by location from the physical to the application layer; provides real-time views of service-level metrics such as packet delay, packet delivery ratio, jitter and availability; and validations on end-to-end performance of every XO Class of Service and bandwidth use by Class of Service.
The Tier 2 choice includes all of the above as well as protocol analyzer capabilities that capture live traffic of applications across all locations; autodiscovery of applications, services and users across the entire network; monitoring of server connect and response times; and threshold alarms for applications and servers.
The other option, called Tier 3, does all that Tiers 1 and 2 do plus it includes VoIP performance troubleshooting; autodiscovery of VoIP calls, call managers and handsets; individual call forensics, including MOS score and jitter measurements; and long-term VoIP performance trending reports for network readiness assessments.
Other telcos offer tools along these lines. For example, Verizon Business in 2006 announced the availability of new network tools to help businesses improve the performance of their IP networks and business applications. The same year, virtual network operator Vanco, now part of Reliance Globalcom, announced plans to deploy Ipanema Technologies’ Business Network Optimization System.
