Control - ensuring that the network serves the business
Network control functions are unique to Ipanema. Designed as a self-governing system, Ipanema's technology enables network managers to concentrate for the first time on the high-value activities that make it possible to deliver on the network's perennial promise to be a strategic asset to the business. Network control ensures the business stays in control.
Ipanema's unique network control features:
Run the network with application service levels
The WAN is a critical piece of the IT infrastructure, the component most shared among users and applications. Applying network control to manage its performance so that it always meets the needs of critical application users is a fundamental requirement. Managing its performance in terms of packet delay or loss is not enough.
Delay or loss on a link says nothing about the performance of individual SAP or Citrix sessions. Enterprises need to setup key performance indicators that help them to understand the network’s contribution to productivity.Delay or loss on a link says nothing about the performance of individual SAP or Citrix sessions. Enterprises need to set up key performance indicators (KPIs) that help them to understand the network’s contribution to productivity.
Ipanema's network control includes Mean Opinion Score (MOS) reporting. MOS is the KPI for VoIP or IP telephony flows. Since MOS is only applicable to voice, Ipanema has developed the Application Quality Score (AQS) for data applications. A fundamental component of network control, it enables instant views of the performance of every application flow for every user. Scores range from 0 to 10, directly rating the application quality delivered by the network. This is particularly valuable for business-critical applications. AQS is delivered by the system through multiple tools that show the application health globally, in real-time. With this Ipanema network control function, enterprises can verify and manage the service levels of all applications on the global WAN.
Guarantee application performance from high level objectives
Enterprises understand that WAN Optimization and Application Performance Management technologies are important to obtain excellent application performance over their networks, but the price they need to pay to embrace these technologies can be very high. Application aware devices need to be configured and they need to have their configurations adapted to the network and IT environment, even more so than routers.
As enterprises today integrate application-aware technologies in the design and planning of their VPN infrastructure, finding a means to hide all the complexity of aligning the technology to business goals becomes crucial. Without a fundamental change in configuration and on-going management models, the benefits of WAN Optimization will be restricted to a reduced set of benefits.
Using Autonomic Networking, Ipanema unleashes the power of WAN Optimization and Application Performance Management by providing a fully global, automated and dynamic way of bridging the gap between the enterprise business and the application aware VPN.
Thanks to a unique management model based on high level objectives, application performance can be guaranteed for business critical applications anytime, anywhere.
Manage the network cost / application performance trade off
In order to deliver appropriate service levels to end-users, the right bandwidth must be used at the different sites in the network.
The Ipanema System’s rightsizing feature analyzes network capacity and user demand and compares this with the performance objectives. From this analysis, it computes the exact relationship between bandwidth and service levels.
In this example, the Rightsizing report shows that over the chosen time period (hour, day, week, month and so on, which can extend into the future by using trending algorithms), with 512Kbit/s of access link capacity, critical application users would have received the right network resources 100% of the time, while users of non critical applications would have their quality targets met between 80% and 90% of the time. For all users of all applications to receive good quality levels 100% of the time, about 1.7 Mbit/s would have been required. That is more than a 3x difference in link size, where the only benefit is that non-critical applications meet performance targets an additional 10%-15% of the time.
So, what is the best point on the application performance/link cost curve? This is a question that can, for the first time, be asked and answered using the Rightsizing report. This is a completely new way of sizing network links. It is much more aligned with the needs of the business than any other capacity planning solution.
Understand the application delivery chain
When troubleshooting application performance, it is important to be able to identify the individual impact of each segment of the application delivery chain.
Using a comprehensive set of metrics, Ipanema is able to isolate the different contributions to application performance coming from the different network elements:
- The WAN cloud as delivered by the service provider – these indications can be used, for example, to check the WAN readiness for demanding applications such as VoIP
- The WAN, including the impact of WAN Optimization measured from LAN to LAN
- The server/client responses for TCP flows
- Assess WAN readiness for demanding applications (VoIP, Video..)
- Control optimized WAN behavior
- Isolate server and client contributions to application performance
Encourage good practices with performance based cost allocation
The Ipanema System collects information about delivered traffic volume and quality for each application and their end-users.
A dedicated set of tools can be used to collate this information across a range of criteria, facilitating accurate cost allocation to the different business units thus encouraging good business practices and fulfilling a critical need for those organizations where IT chargeback is a perennial problem.
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