BT improves application performance and end user experience for large organisations

BT today announced the launch of a new fully managed wide area network (WAN) optimisation service and a new applications performance monitoring service offering corporate customers the chance to improve application performance, boost productivity and maximise return on investments in IT and network resources.

The new WAN optimisation service speeds the performance of applications between data centres, remote offices and mobile workers by 5 to 50 times and in some cases up to 100 times. It enables organisations to overcome a host of severe problems, including poor application performance and more effective use of IT and network resources at remote sites.

The new applications performance monitoring service allows IT directors to ensure that vital applications perform according to required service levels. By centrally installing a device in the data centre, it measures response times between user, server and application, providing accurate measures even for remote locations without the need for physical devices at each user location. It provides online businesses with critical measures by analysing individual page load times, giving instant feedback of the performance of online services. This is of key importance for e-commerce and e-banking organisations. The service can also be used on a growing number of specialist application environments from various vendors.

Jean-Noel Moneton, vice president Network Services at BT said: “As enterprises look to be more efficient with fewer resources and finances, a managed service environment relieves them of the challenges surrounding the management of multiple vendors. The services we announce today are the latest additions to our Applications Assured Infrastructure (AAI) portfolio, which is a set of repeatable managed services that audit, monitor and optimise the performance of applications throughout their life cycle.”

Leading analyst house Telemark has identified BT’s AAI service as a differentiator for its global VPN service and recently awarded BT with a best-in-class rating for “Value for Money” in a customer experience study of Global Data VPN providers.

Telemark Services analyst Janet Watkin said: “Since AAI was launched four years ago, it has developed into a solid, commercially-viable service, with tangible benefits for business users who desire an optimal network performance. With the AAI audits, diagnostics, monitoring and optimisation features BT demonstrates how bottlenecks are removed and how surges in demand are identified, prioritised and managed in real time.”

BT’s applications performance monitoring is based on Compuware technology, while the new WAN optimisation service is based on Riverbed technology. BT chose Riverbed because they compliment its existing AAI portfolio and came out on top in the rigorous assessments BT conducted on all the leading WAN Optimisation vendors.

“Riverbed continues to innovate in areas that directly impact bottom lines,” commented Jerry Kennelly, chief executive officer at Riverbed. “BT Global Services fully managed WAN Optimisation Service brings its customers a valuable opportunity to further consolidate IT infrastructure and help them create a more efficient workforce and IT environment.”