According to Duxbury`s chief technology officer, Graham Vorster, the product line up is ideally suited to applications in which the convergence of technologies is a core requirement. It is also targeted at Voice over IP (VOIP) applications in which prioritised traffic over Internet links are critical, providing end-to-end network policy management, redundancy and monitoring facilities. QoSWorks will also form one of the key building blocks in Duxbury`s managed services initiative.

"QoSWorks is a network bridging appliance that is positioned in the WAN [wide area network] before the router and assigns bandwidth based on policies," explains Vorster. It is one of the most advanced tools available today to prioritise bandwidth throughout the enterprise.

Gordon Barry, MD of Sitara Networks, says the Duxbury appointment was motivated by the high levels of skills within the company, its knowledge of the industry and its country-wide footprint.

"QoSWorks will give Duxbury a management solution to the bandwidth squeeze," he says. "SA has not had much exposure yet to bridging QoS appliances, and increasing bandwidth capability is commonly the first response to network performance degradation by customers using routers."

Duxbury`s technical staff has currently undergone training on the product set and a dedicated pre-sales team has been established to focus on these offerings.