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New bandwidth technology released
Thursday, February 22 2001
by Rory Kelleher


New bandwidth optimisation technology which promises improvements in bandwidth of
up to 600 percent in company networks has been launched by Expand Networks.



"We lower the ownership cost of bandwidth which is more expensive in Ireland
than it is in the UK," said Scott Dobson, country manager for Expand Networks in
the UK and Ireland.

The technology works like Web caching except on the private networks of
organisations rather than on the Internet. 

Expand's technology, which sits beside the router at the edge of the network,
identifies repetitive patterns in data being sent and caches regularly repeated
information in the box.

"Much of the information sent across company leased lines or framed relay
circuits using SAP, Oracle or Notes is repetitive and with caching, the networks
performance could be improved by between 300 percent and 600 percent," he said.

In testing with Citrix operating system, Expand Networks' accelerator product
enabled company's networks to get the equivalent of the performance of a 300k
line over a 64k line, Dobson said.

"We bring the benefits of Web caching to all organisations operating all kinds
of wide area networks and enterprise private networks," he said.

In the UK it would cost an average of STG8,000 a year to upgrade a 64K network to
a 264K network whereas this can be done by installing one of Expand's
accelerators for a one time cost of STG6,500, according to Dobson.

Digital Communications Management, the company that will resell the product in
Ireland, said the technology is already on trial with five companies here,
including Project Management in Cork.

"Expand's technology can offer companies cost savings of between 50 percent and
100 percent compared to conventional methods for increasing bandwidth on a
network," said Gerry Sheldrick, networking director for Digital Communications
Management. 

The company expected to sell between IEP700,000 to IEP800,000 of the software and
hardware, which costs an average of IEP6,500 per installation, in Ireland before
the end of the year, Sheldrick said.