NetEqualizer Helps You Direct Your Network Traffic

By Mini Swamy, TMCnet Contributor

What would happen if an online company offered a 60 percent discount on all electronic items and free video downloads for only a day? There would probably be a stampede for the products, and thousands would log on to get in before others do. But the impact on the network could be disastrous, and could actually stall users and the network. However, it does appear that APconnections’ enhancement to its NetEqualizer (News - Alert) bandwidth shapers could provide some relief.

Colorado-based APconnections, which delivers network traffic management solutions, has added dynamic real-time reporting, including robust protocol tracking and traffic reporting to NetEqualizer Bandwidth (News - Alert) Shapers that promise to help companies analyze and monitor bandwidth usage of their networks. The enhancements were an offshoot of feedback during the Beta.

“Our customers have been asking for more visibility into the traffic and protocols running on their networks. It is a natural extension of our core focus on bandwidth shaping,” observed Art Reisman (News - Alert), chief technology officer at NetEqualizer.

As a result, during peak period when there are unexpected surges in traffic, NetEqualizer has a calming influence on traffic and lives up to its name by using its ‘equalizing ‘ technology and spreading out traffic in a better way over time, depending on available capacity.

With the introduction of real-time graphs of NetEqualizer traffic, there is greater visibility into live networks, so at any point of time, it’s possible to determine the culprit IPs that are slowing down traffic.

So bandwidth hoggers like large file downloads or video would be given less priority in comparison to VoIP, email and Web applications. This is expected to ensure higher quality of service and optimal network performance. With the dynamic real-time reporting tool, users can get a better handle on how busy the network is on any given day.

The traffic reports enable customers to quickly see how busy the  network has been over a period of time, while the tracking reports (as the name suggests) help to monitor protocols, which can be enabled or disabled when traffic has to be monitored or restricted.

Affordably priced and available in license levels from 10Mbps-5Gbps on networks up to 40,000 users, the enhanced NetEqualizer will hopefully live up to its mission of “ faster Networks, increased user satisfaction, reduced complaints and a better online experience.”

Related Network Packet Broker Articles