Bandwidth Management - Bandwidth Management Tools

Instead of adding additional bandwidth to networks to solve bottleneck problems—a short-term solution that is rather costly—network managers use bandwidth management tools or packet and traffic shapers to control bandwidth allocation. These tools identify and prioritize packets that carry information through networks. For instance, when university networks experienced problems in the late 1990s and early 2000s as students began using campus resources to share music via Napster, network administrators avoided purchasing more bandwidth or restricting access to their sites by using tools that would slow access to sites like Napster and give priority to academic requests on the network.

These tools also enable network managers to identify network traffic patterns, establish priorities, optimize application performance, and allocate resources. PacketShaper, a popular tool developed by bandwidth management technology pioneer Packeteer Inc., is able to optimize bandwidth by categorizing network traffic based on application, protocol, subnet, and URL, allowing managers to prioritize requests on the network. PacketShaper also analyzes networks to determine efficiency and bandwidth allocation; enables managers to look at system reports and statistics; and allows them to control traffic and optimize critical application performance. For example, PacketShaper gives online businesses the ability to allocate more bandwidth to e-commerce transaction traffic than to less important applications.

Other popular tools on the market in 2001 included Intel's NetStructure 7340 Traffic Shaper and the Packeteer PacketShaper/ISP. These tools allow ISPs to prioritize and optimize network bandwidth by controlling levels and limiting server bandwidth. The Intel NetStructure 7370 Application Shaper is another management system that enables ASPs and HSPs to control the quality of application services and monitor resources. Allot Communication also offers a Virtual Bandwidth Manager (VMB), which allows corporate networks to remotely control bandwidth by accessing a VMB unit at a service provider office.

As the number of Internet users continues to increase and demand for media-rich and peer-to-peer applications rises, bandwidth management will continue to play a role in network management. However, finding a management solution is not always an easy task. While there are many tools on the market, the continual evolution of technology, including e-commerce applications, can make network management a tough chore. In a February 2001 Communicate article, Packeteer Director of Market Development Greg Dalvell explained that "emerging multimedia applications delivering streaming video or audio content on a peer-to-peer basis threaten to consume vast amounts of Internet bandwidth at the expense of less hungry but more critical tasks." The same article also indicates that "the e-business issue is compounding the problems by effectively extending networks beyond internal firewalls, making performance and availability even harder to gauge." As a result, network managers continue to look for and utilize solutions that optimize bandwidth in order to avoid bottlenecks and ensure that enough resources are allocated to business-critical applications.