SLA Monitoring Service reports WAN link, cloud service QoE.

Press Release Summary:



Implemented via 4 x 5 in. micro-appliance permanently deployed at customer site via in-line or mirrored-port configuration, CloudCare lets SMBs and enterprise branch offices monitor WAN SLAs and pinpoint LAN congestion issues impacting cloud-based services. Hosted service can monitor real-time quality of WAN or inter-site links and also provides detailed network behavior as well as Top-N-Flow Analysis of customer's LAN.



Original Press Release:



Packet Island Announces CloudCare - an SLA Monitoring Service for WAN Links and Cloud-based Services



For businesses deploying video conferencing, SIP trunks, and other real-time services over WAN links

Cupertino, CA - Packet Island today announced the availability of CloudCare, a new hosted service that enables SMB and enterprise branch offices to monitor their WAN Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and pinpoint LAN congestion issues impacting their cloud-based services.

In today's world where more and more enterprises are moving to a cloud-based IT model, with voice, video, and data services delivered to various employee locations over the WAN, the Quality of Experience (QoE) provided by the WAN link and the enterprise's LAN become very important. Although there are a variety of high bandwidth broadband access technologies including DSL, cable, WiMax, traditional T1, etc., not all broadband technologies offer the same QoE when transporting real-time services like VoIP and Video. Furthermore, when services are delivered over the public Internet, QoE becomes even more vulnerable to degradation. As a result, the traditional means of monitoring WAN SLAs by performing response-time analysis of the route path is not sufficient anymore. For enterprises using SIP trunking, video, and other real-time services, it is imperative to continuously monitor the real-time quality of their WAN links by using real-time metrics such as jitter, packet loss, and delay. Also, given that many of today's network congestion problems are due to the use of bandwidth intensive personal entertainment and P2P applications, it is essential to have visibility into the LAN to understand who/what may be causing the congestion. Without such monitoring, enterprises and service providers end up in an expensive finger-pointing game when it comes to troubleshooting quality degradation with their cloud-based services.

Packet Island's CloudCare hosted service enables enterprises and managed service providers to go beyond simple response time monitoring to monitoring the real-time quality of their WAN or inter-site links. CloudCare also provides detailed Network Behavior and Top-N-Flow Analysis of the customer's LAN, enabling them to locate the LAN sources that cause WAN congestion. CloudCare is implemented using an inexpensive 4" x 5" micro-appliance that is permanently deployed at the customer site, in an in-line or mirrored-port configuration.

"Without CloudCare we would have no way to gain visibility into the quality of our customer's wireless broadband link and the source of issues impacting the hosted VoIP services we deliver. With CloudCare, our customers realize significant savings by allowing us to quickly prove to their ISP that they are not meeting their SLA. The product enables us to offer a superior level of service to our customers at a great price." said Sarah Simmons, CEO of Protocall Communications.

"We are delighted that Protocall has chosen CloudCare for monitoring the service levels experienced by their customers who use wireless broadband. The biggest challenge in offering cloud-based services is often visibility into how the LAN and WAN are impacting cloud-based services. Though many enterprises are deploying SIP trunking, Telepresence, and other cost-saving technologies, they often overlook the fact that bandwidth alone does not guarantee good QoE. Since most ISPs are now in a race to offer more Mbps for lower cost, customers are often misled to believe that more bandwidth means better quality - especially for real-time services involving VoIP and video. Unfortunately, when an ISP promises "up to 6Mbps", the emphasis is really on "up to", and therefore the available bandwidth at any time is really dependent on how congested the ISP's network is at that point in time. Furthermore, in our experience over the past several years, we have seen many ISP networks which promise a certain level of bandwidth, but do not meet the required jitter and loss thresholds even at 50% usage levels. This often suggests a WAN link that is good for data, but poor for VoIP or Video. Given that good QoE is essential to the success of these new converged media services, customers now need tools like CloudCare to successfully migrate to the new world of cloud-based IT services." said Praveen Kumar, CEO of Packet Island, Inc.

More information about CloudCare can be found at http://packetisland.com/page-cloudcare.html

About Protocall Communications
Protocall is a Las Vegas-based hosted IP communications reseller. Protocall currently has customers nationwide, from California to New Jersey, while focusing on their local market in Las Vegas. The customer base is diverse in scope, ranging from 10 seats, to 10,000-seat customers. Also added to the offering, is the wide range of products being used by customers. Current products being utilized in the marketplace scale from true VoIP seats, to IP trunks, to first-class carrier services such as regular LD and 800 outbound and inbound services.
For more information, visit http://www. protocallcommunications.com

About Packet Island
Founded in 2004, Packet Island Inc. is a venture-backed company located in Santa Clara, California. Since its founding, Packet Island has pioneered the development of award-winning SaaS-based solutions for managing converged media networks for SMB and multi-site networks. Packet Island was recently honored by "VoIP deployment for Dummies" as the recommended solution for VoIP lifecycle management. More information can be found at www.packetisland.com

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