Verizon Business Offers New Set of Network Tools to Help Businesses to Better Manage Their IP Networks

Application Aware Network Capabilities Provide Private IP Customers with Network Visibility and Flexibility to Enhance Network and Application Performance

HostReview.com
Tuesday, March 21, 2006; 01:42 PM

Verizon Business, a premier provider of advanced global communications and information technology (IT) solutions, today unveiled a new set of network tools to help businesses improve the performance of their Internet protocol (IP) networks and associated business applications. The new tools will be available in April for Verizon Business Private IP customers.

By introducing one of the first commercially available, network-based set of application aware network (AAN) tools, Verizon Business is helping its Private IP customers achieve new levels of performance for applications like voice over IP (VoIP), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and video.

Using network assessment, reporting, dynamic bandwidth and packet marking tools, Verizon Business customers can now more closely monitor network performance and quickly adjust capacity to meet changing requirements and achieve cost efficiencies.

"Just as we continue to set the pace delivering industry-leading managed services, we are also enhancing the IP networking experience for self-managed Private IP customers," said Nancy Gofus, vice president of product management for Verizon Business. "Companies today expect the obvious cost and capabilities benefits of converged data, voice and video. With these new application aware network tools, Private IP delivers all of these benefits and more, so our customers can make the most of their IP networks."

AANs can allow dynamic bandwidth adjustments and can tailor class of service and performance characteristics to meet specific application requirements. This enables Verizon Business customers to fine-tune their bandwidth requirements and help optimize network performance to achieve cost efficiencies, improve their end-users' experience, and more closely monitor Private IP network performance against service level agreements (SLAs).

"Verizon Business has taken a different approach to application aware networking than some of its competitors, installing software on customer routers and servers rather than probes at each customer location. This approach enables Verizon Business to keep the price point fairly low, and offer application aware networking to a wider range of its customers," said Ron Kaplan, Research Manager, IDC.

Verizon Business' Private IP AAN capabilities include Network Assessment Service, Network Performance, Bandwidth Optimization, and Application and Packet Marking Optimization.

Network Assessment Service
This service helps Private IP customers align network resources with business strategies and performance data; ease adoption of new technologies; and maximize cost savings by identifying performance barriers that affect user productivity. Network managers can gain enhanced visibility and the ability to view how enterprise applications affect both the wide-area network and the performance of other applications in a dynamic network environment, thus giving companies enhanced ease and flexibility as they introduce new business processes.

Network Performance
Verizon Business' Wide Area Network (WAN) Analysis allows customers to manage their Private IP networks more effectively, helping to ensure that they are sized appropriately and performing as designed. Using advanced performance tools, Verizon Business customers can monitor their applications, systems and networks, as well as a complete network snapshot, featuring application availability, server performance and network capacity. Data is extracted directly from a customer's Private IP network router in all locations where Private IP is available around the globe, so that additional customer premises equipment (CPE) is not required.

"Verizon Business WAN Analysis has been an invaluable tool enhancing our IP networking experience both from a management and end-user experience," said Mike Wagner with Maxim Healthcare Services, Inc. Information Services Group. "WAN Analysis has helped simplify the task of managing our network by monitoring for situations that could adversely impact performance and by providing detailed reports that help us troubleshoot and anticipate solutions."

Bandwidth Optimization
This feature is essential for real-time application aware network adjustments. Optimizing bandwidth can help application efficiency and network performance and allows for growth and stability. Private IP customers can make bandwidth changes in minutes through the Verizon Business Customer Center, a Web-based customer portal that features pre-set port utilization thresholds for real-time management and subscription to electronically-delivered monitoring reports on a monthly, weekly, daily or hourly basis.

Application and Packet Marking Optimization
These tools enable Private IP customers to help optimize their MPLS networks by providing streamlined, Web-based reports to evaluate application performance all the way to the desktop and user level. Customers can control which applications take precedence for delivery through the network. This capability replaces the need for costly site-by-site router configurations and enables more specific marking by application versus broader marking by port. As a result, Private IP customers can adjust bandwidth and simplify network management with streamlined Web-based reporting.

Private IP today is available throughout the U.S. and in 98 countries around the globe. Verizon Business also offers industry-leading managed services with more than 3,300 customer networks and 207,000 devices under management worldwide today.

About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a leading provider of advanced communications and information technology (IT) solutions to large business and government customers worldwide. Combining unsurpassed global network reach with advanced technology and professional service capabilities, Verizon Business delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world. For more information, visit www.verizonbusiness.com.