Packeteer announces new PacketWise software enabling application-intelligent MPLS networks

Packeteer, a leading provider of application performance infrastructure systems, has announced a new release of its PacketWise operating software for PacketShaper and AppVantage that enables the creation of application-intelligent MPLS networks.

Enterprises and service providers can now provide end-to-end performance of applications by marking, mapping and measuring application traffic over MPLS-based virtual private networks (VPNs).

"Bringing application intelligence to service providers, MPLS networks will help facilitate the adoption of outsourced MPLS VPN services by enterprise customers," said Pieter Olivier of local distributor, IT WISE.

"Enterprises think in terms of business priorities and business applications. Aligning MPLS services with their world view benefit both customers and service providers alike."

Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is an emerging IETF standard that enables providers of IP backbone networks to deliver aggregate classes of service with guaranteed packet forwarding characteristics that extend beyond today`s "best effort" networks.

To accomplish this, MPLS incorporates a packet labelling and forwarding schema that overlays conventional IP routing (though not limited to IP networks) and contains expanded information about class of service, relative priority, committed and peak data rates and the explicit forwarding path. Using MPLS, service providers can deliver IP VPNs that approximate the addressing autonomy and aggregate service-level guarantees of today`s frame-relay wide-area network (WAN) services.

For all of its virtues, MPLS has real limitations when it comes to providing application-level quality of service. Most significantly, MPLS can only classify traffic based on Layer 3 information in the IP address header - application-level control requires Layer 7 awareness. Additionally, MPLS provides control for aggregate classes of traffic and cannot deliver per-flow control necessary to ensure user-level quality of service and fairness, nor does it provide any application service-level management capabilities.

"MPLS-based carrier services provide distinct advantages over other WAN technologies and are gaining traction worldwide," said David Willis, Vice President of Global Networking Strategies for Meta Group. "Yet the simplicity and flexibility of these new services comes at the expense of direct control over the bandwidth allocated to an individual application. Organisations will have to focus on end-to-end application flows to ensure the best possible quality of experience for their users."

With PacketWise 5.2 software on PacketShaper and AppVantage systems, Packeteer enables enterprise and service providers to create application-intelligent MPLS networks.

The new software allows PacketShaper and AppVantage systems to act as application-level "traffic conditioners" on the edge of the MPLS backbone to police, mark, map, measure and meter inbound and outbound traffic.

Although the coarse grades of service afforded by MPLS are well-suited for high-speed backbone networks, they fall short of providing the fine-grain, application-level control needed to make applications perform as required across congested and constrained WAN access links. Packeteer`s PacketShaper and AppVantage systems combine application classification and policy-based traffic and bandwidth management capabilities with the following new MPLS features of PacketWise 5.2:

* Ability to discover and classify MPLS-tagged traffic

* Policy-based traffic marking using MPLS labels, DiffServ, IP Precedence, COS/TOS and other MPLS-compliant techniques

* MPLS-aware admission control policies block or remark inappropriately marked packets

* Mapping of application-level traffic to MPLS classes of service

* Ability to map PacketShaper/AppVantage-enforced bandwidth allocations and committed and peak data rates on WAN access link to appropriate service grades on MPLS backbone Universal QoS Translator

Enterprise customers are using a variety of technologies and techniques for enabling quality of services across building and campus LANs, including IP COS/TOS, DiffServ, ISL, 802.1p/q and MPLS.

This diversity creates havoc for service providers as they try to map customer-premise QoS-enabled traffic to the appropriate MPLS service grade. PacketShaper and AppVantage systems act as a "universal QoS translator" that can translate different customer-defined QoS markings into MPLS-compliant marking based on service provider-defined policies.

PacketShaper and AppVantage systems` application service-level management features have been extended in PacketWise 5.2 to align with MPLS-based services. New features include the ability to measure and report application performance and service-level compliance based on MPLS tags, VPNs or compliant markings (eg DiffServ, IP Precedence, etc), and the ability to measure and mediate between end-to-end application-level response times and MPLS network-level latency.

"With PacketWise 5.2 for PacketShaper and AppVantage, Packeteer provides a critical bridge between the aggregate, Layer 3 class of service capabilities of MPLS and the need for fine-grain, application control - especially across the constrained and congested last-mile connection," said Olivier. "Service providers will now be able to leverage their investment in MPLS by delivering new application-intelligent services aligned with customers` business priorities and applications."

PacketWise 5.2 for PacketShaper and AppVantage systems is scheduled for immediate release and is offered at no charge to Packeteer customers who subscribe to Packeteer`s PacketCare support program.