Internap brings performance optimisation to enterprise networks

Internap has announced the immediate availability of its new Managed Internet Route OptimizerTM (MIRO) Controller, an on-premise appliance that helps enterprises and service providers achieve performance level guarantees for their critical applications. MIRO Controller continuously monitors multi-homed (or multi-carrier) networks for latency, packet loss, route stability and congestion and dynamically routes traffic over the fastest path. The appliance uses the same MIRO technology, backed by more than 15 patents, that powers Internap’s global terabit/second Performance IP™ transit service.


Today’s consumers expect seamless availability and fast access to Web content, without exception. According to KISSmetrics, 40% of consumers will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load, and a delay in page response of a single second can lead to a 7% reduction in conversions, negatively impacting revenue and customer satisfaction. As a result, tens of thousands of organisations across a range of performance-intensive industries – such as e-commerce, software and Internet, financial services, telecommunications and online gaming – have implemented multi-homed networks to improve the speed and availability of their business-critical content and applications and eliminate single points of failure. However, measuring and managing these networks can be complex, costly and time-consuming.


Replacing Internap’s previous Flow Control Platform (FCP), MIRO Controller was rebuilt from the ground up to meet the intensive performance and scalability requirements of today’s Internet-based applications. The global routing table has quadrupled in size since 2004, and the “Internet of Things” has led to the widespread proliferation of connected devices. MIRO Controller, which supports both IPv4 and IPv6, enables organisations that are multi-homing their network traffic across two or more carriers to realise the full performance benefits of these networks by automatically rerouting traffic to minimise latency, packet loss and congestion.


MIRO Controller can also be leveraged to optimise costs by managing network capacity based on carrier bandwidth costs and commit levels. With automated, rules-based routing, organisations can customise MIRO Controller settings to deliver best performance or cost-efficiency or a combination of both, based on specific business and application requirements, and remove the need for network engineers to constantly make one-off manual routing adjustments.


“Both enterprises and service providers are under pressure to deliver Web applications and content to end users who demand flawless performance and an ideal experience every time,” said Steve Orchard, senior vice president and general manager of data center and network services at Internap. “With MIRO Controller, network engineers can take command of their multi-homed networks to provide the performance end users rely on, reduce network costs and gain valuable real-time insights to proactively manage IP network issues, such as outages and brownouts, that can directly impact revenue and productivity.”
MIRO Controller benefits include:

· Improved end user performance combined with reduced network costs
· Automatic traffic routing based on performance metrics, cost saving considerations or a combination of both
· Proactive management of IP network issues such as outages, black holes, brownouts and slowdowns that can impact revenue and productivity
· Unprecedented insight into end-to-end network performance, carrier commit reserves and price-indexed ISP performance through comprehensive reports and dashboards