Packeteer's new Packetshaper Xpresst puts networked applications in the fast lane with acceleration
Announcement posted by Packeteer, Inc. 11 Feb 2003
~ New version of PacketShaper Application Traffic Management System adds traffic acceleration to speed the performance of networked applications and extend bandwidth resources ~
Packeteer, Inc. (NASDAQ: PKTR), a leading provider of application traffic management systems, today announced PacketShaper XpressT - a new addition to the Packeteer product family that provides application traffic acceleration. Packeteer leveraged its expertise in advanced Web acceleration and content compression technology to create a "universal" traffic acceleration solution that is highly
efficient, scalable and simple to administer. Combining Layer 7 classification, traffic shaping and application-intelligent acceleration raises the level of control customers have over the performance of their networked applications and associated bandwidth costs.
"Network managers consistently cite poor application performance and network congestion as pressing issues, however determining the cause of the problems or what to do when they are discovered is a challenge," said Lawrence Orans, senior analyst at Gartner. "Different problems require different solutions, and fiscal and practical issues dictate that customers employ effective solutions that yield a quick return on investment. Traffic management and compression are complementary technologies that can result in bandwidth efficiency and cost savings."
BIGGER BANDWIDTH IS NOT ENOUGH
According to recent studies, traffic on enterprise networks is growing at more than 40 percent per year.
As a result, customers are increasingly considering compression-based acceleration solutions as an alternative to upgrading bandwidth on their congested links. Increasingly, traffic flowing on today's enterprise networks is bandwidth-intensive in nature but not very urgent or business-related. Casual Web browsing, email and file transfers for example, can often burst to consume most of the available bandwidth - squeezing out latency-sensitive traffic like SAP, Oracle and Citrix-based applications. Simply adding bandwidth, whether by upgrading circuits or increasing "virtual bandwidth" through compression, does not guarantee that the extra capacity will go to support these business-critical applications.
Deploying acceleration technology to improve bandwidth capacity without knowledge and control of how that extra capacity is being consumed falls short of meeting the needs of today's IT organisations. IT organisations are seeking solutions that allow them to protect the performance of business-critical applications and contain less critical, bandwidth-intensive applications. To achieve this balance of control, acceleration is most effective when combined with traffic monitoring and shaping capabilities.
PacketShaper Xpress builds on Packeteer's application-level traffic classification, monitoring, analysis, control and reporting technology to deliver a complete solution for application quality of service. IT organisations can now gain a clear understanding of what's running on their networks and how critical business applications are performing, and then apply the precise level of traffic shaping and acceleration required for each class of traffic.
APPLICATION TRAFFIC ACCELERATION: SMARTER IS BETTER
Packeteer's PacketShaper Xpress is smarter, simpler and more scalable than other currently available acceleration solutions.
Packeteer's adaptive compression engine becomes increasingly "knowledgeable" as it dynamically assesses which traffic types will benefit from compression and which will not, and then applies acceleration accordingly. Compression dictionaries are continuously tuned on a per-application basis to provide the highest possible gains. Additionally, its algorithm "plug-in" design will enable multiple compression algorithms and techniques to be added in the future.
ACTIVETUNNEL
Many standalone compression products require tedious manual configuration. Packeteer's innovative tunnel management feature, ActiveTunnel, automatically detects Xpress-enabled PacketShapers and dynamically builds acceleration tunnels between the units, reducing setup time and complexity and ongoing administrative costs.
LAYER 7 APPLICATION CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS
PacketShaper Xpress leverages the PacketShaper's Layer 7 application classification capability, enabling users to get a comprehensive view of network traffic and application performance before activating acceleration. Class-based acceleration allows users to select which traffic classes to accelerate so that compression overhead does not impact the performance of uncompressible or pre-compressed applications like VoIP and certain multimedia streams.
INTEGRATED TRAFFIC SHAPING
Significant traffic loads and variable compression rates often result in high latency, jitter and packet loss. By tightly integrating application-intelligent acceleration with its patented TCP Rate Control and other traffic shaping technology, Packeteer is able to significantly reduce the negative effects of variable compression rates. Packeteer's patented TCP Rate Control actively manages congestion and meters compressed traffic flows across the WAN at a consistent prescribed rate, reducing latency and packet loss.
ACCELERATION EFFICIENCY REPORTS
A wealth of acceleration efficiency reports highlighting throughput, bandwidth savings and application performance are incorporated in PacketShaper's onboard Web reporting and in Packeteer's ReportCenterT central reporting application.
SCALABLE, POLICY-BASED MANAGEMENT
Packeteer's PolicyCenterT central configuration and policy management application allows customers to easily configure, deploy and administer large PacketShaper deployments.
"Packeteer leveraged its expertise in advanced Web and content acceleration technologies to develop PacketShaper Xpress, a universal traffic acceleration solution that enables smart, simple and scalable operation," said Peter Owen, Territory Manager, Australia & New Zealand for Packeteer. "This builds on the PacketShaper's Layer 7 classification and traffic shaping capabilities to provide enhanced acceleration efficiency and give customers the power to control which applications receive the performance benefits achieved through acceleration."
AVAILABILITY AND PRICING
PacketShaper Xpress is currently undergoing beta testing with availability scheduled for March 2003. Pricing for Xpress upgrades to existing PacketShaper systems begins at $1,000 USD.
ABOUT PACKETEER
Based in Cupertino, Calif., Packeteer (NASDAQ: PKTR) is a leading provider of application traffic management systems that enable businesses to gain visibility and control of networked applications, extend network resources and align application performance with business priorities. For service providers, Packeteer systems provide a platform for delivering application-intelligent network services that control quality of service, expand revenue opportunities and offer compelling differentiation. The company's products are sold through more than 100 resellers, distributors and system integrators in more than 50 countries. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.packeteer.com.
# # #
US SAFE HARBOR CLAUSE
The statements contained in this press release that are not purely
historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E
of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including
statements regarding Packeteer's expectations, beliefs, intentions or
strategies regarding the future. Forward-looking statements include express
or implied statements regarding future revenues and profitability, spending
levels by existing and prospective customers, new product development,
liquidity and macro economic conditions. All forward-looking statements
included in this press release are based upon information available to
Packeteer as of the date hereof. Packeteer assumes no obligation to update
any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected. Actual results may differ materially due
to a number of factors including the perceived need for our products, our
ability to convince potential customers of our value proposition, the costs
of competitive solutions, continued capital spending by prospective
customers and macro economic conditions. These and other risks relating to
Packeteer's business are set forth in Packeteer's Form 10-K filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on March 22, 2002, and Packeteer's Form
10-Qs and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
TRADEMARKS: Packeteer and PacketShaper are registered trademarks and Packet
Wise, AppVantage and AppCelera are trademarks of Packeteer, Inc. All other
products and services are the trademarks of their respective owners.
efficient, scalable and simple to administer. Combining Layer 7 classification, traffic shaping and application-intelligent acceleration raises the level of control customers have over the performance of their networked applications and associated bandwidth costs.
"Network managers consistently cite poor application performance and network congestion as pressing issues, however determining the cause of the problems or what to do when they are discovered is a challenge," said Lawrence Orans, senior analyst at Gartner. "Different problems require different solutions, and fiscal and practical issues dictate that customers employ effective solutions that yield a quick return on investment. Traffic management and compression are complementary technologies that can result in bandwidth efficiency and cost savings."
BIGGER BANDWIDTH IS NOT ENOUGH
According to recent studies, traffic on enterprise networks is growing at more than 40 percent per year.
As a result, customers are increasingly considering compression-based acceleration solutions as an alternative to upgrading bandwidth on their congested links. Increasingly, traffic flowing on today's enterprise networks is bandwidth-intensive in nature but not very urgent or business-related. Casual Web browsing, email and file transfers for example, can often burst to consume most of the available bandwidth - squeezing out latency-sensitive traffic like SAP, Oracle and Citrix-based applications. Simply adding bandwidth, whether by upgrading circuits or increasing "virtual bandwidth" through compression, does not guarantee that the extra capacity will go to support these business-critical applications.
Deploying acceleration technology to improve bandwidth capacity without knowledge and control of how that extra capacity is being consumed falls short of meeting the needs of today's IT organisations. IT organisations are seeking solutions that allow them to protect the performance of business-critical applications and contain less critical, bandwidth-intensive applications. To achieve this balance of control, acceleration is most effective when combined with traffic monitoring and shaping capabilities.
PacketShaper Xpress builds on Packeteer's application-level traffic classification, monitoring, analysis, control and reporting technology to deliver a complete solution for application quality of service. IT organisations can now gain a clear understanding of what's running on their networks and how critical business applications are performing, and then apply the precise level of traffic shaping and acceleration required for each class of traffic.
APPLICATION TRAFFIC ACCELERATION: SMARTER IS BETTER
Packeteer's PacketShaper Xpress is smarter, simpler and more scalable than other currently available acceleration solutions.
Packeteer's adaptive compression engine becomes increasingly "knowledgeable" as it dynamically assesses which traffic types will benefit from compression and which will not, and then applies acceleration accordingly. Compression dictionaries are continuously tuned on a per-application basis to provide the highest possible gains. Additionally, its algorithm "plug-in" design will enable multiple compression algorithms and techniques to be added in the future.
ACTIVETUNNEL
Many standalone compression products require tedious manual configuration. Packeteer's innovative tunnel management feature, ActiveTunnel, automatically detects Xpress-enabled PacketShapers and dynamically builds acceleration tunnels between the units, reducing setup time and complexity and ongoing administrative costs.
LAYER 7 APPLICATION CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS
PacketShaper Xpress leverages the PacketShaper's Layer 7 application classification capability, enabling users to get a comprehensive view of network traffic and application performance before activating acceleration. Class-based acceleration allows users to select which traffic classes to accelerate so that compression overhead does not impact the performance of uncompressible or pre-compressed applications like VoIP and certain multimedia streams.
INTEGRATED TRAFFIC SHAPING
Significant traffic loads and variable compression rates often result in high latency, jitter and packet loss. By tightly integrating application-intelligent acceleration with its patented TCP Rate Control and other traffic shaping technology, Packeteer is able to significantly reduce the negative effects of variable compression rates. Packeteer's patented TCP Rate Control actively manages congestion and meters compressed traffic flows across the WAN at a consistent prescribed rate, reducing latency and packet loss.
ACCELERATION EFFICIENCY REPORTS
A wealth of acceleration efficiency reports highlighting throughput, bandwidth savings and application performance are incorporated in PacketShaper's onboard Web reporting and in Packeteer's ReportCenterT central reporting application.
SCALABLE, POLICY-BASED MANAGEMENT
Packeteer's PolicyCenterT central configuration and policy management application allows customers to easily configure, deploy and administer large PacketShaper deployments.
"Packeteer leveraged its expertise in advanced Web and content acceleration technologies to develop PacketShaper Xpress, a universal traffic acceleration solution that enables smart, simple and scalable operation," said Peter Owen, Territory Manager, Australia & New Zealand for Packeteer. "This builds on the PacketShaper's Layer 7 classification and traffic shaping capabilities to provide enhanced acceleration efficiency and give customers the power to control which applications receive the performance benefits achieved through acceleration."
AVAILABILITY AND PRICING
PacketShaper Xpress is currently undergoing beta testing with availability scheduled for March 2003. Pricing for Xpress upgrades to existing PacketShaper systems begins at $1,000 USD.
ABOUT PACKETEER
Based in Cupertino, Calif., Packeteer (NASDAQ: PKTR) is a leading provider of application traffic management systems that enable businesses to gain visibility and control of networked applications, extend network resources and align application performance with business priorities. For service providers, Packeteer systems provide a platform for delivering application-intelligent network services that control quality of service, expand revenue opportunities and offer compelling differentiation. The company's products are sold through more than 100 resellers, distributors and system integrators in more than 50 countries. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.packeteer.com.
# # #
US SAFE HARBOR CLAUSE
The statements contained in this press release that are not purely
historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E
of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including
statements regarding Packeteer's expectations, beliefs, intentions or
strategies regarding the future. Forward-looking statements include express
or implied statements regarding future revenues and profitability, spending
levels by existing and prospective customers, new product development,
liquidity and macro economic conditions. All forward-looking statements
included in this press release are based upon information available to
Packeteer as of the date hereof. Packeteer assumes no obligation to update
any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected. Actual results may differ materially due
to a number of factors including the perceived need for our products, our
ability to convince potential customers of our value proposition, the costs
of competitive solutions, continued capital spending by prospective
customers and macro economic conditions. These and other risks relating to
Packeteer's business are set forth in Packeteer's Form 10-K filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on March 22, 2002, and Packeteer's Form
10-Qs and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
TRADEMARKS: Packeteer and PacketShaper are registered trademarks and Packet
Wise, AppVantage and AppCelera are trademarks of Packeteer, Inc. All other
products and services are the trademarks of their respective owners.