UUNet, Xedia help direct Internet traffic: Vendor's routers provide QOS functionality

UUNet, the Internet service provider of MCI WorldCom, last week announced that it would use Xedia routers to provide Automated Optimization Service, which should help businesses better manage Internet traffic.

UUNet will bundle its T-3 tiered and burstable Internet access services with Xedia's quality-of-service optimized Access Point routers. The ISP also will provide on-site and remote training for the service.

"This is the first service of its kind built around a traffic management tool," said Rhonda Glenn, product manager for multi-megabit services at UUNet. "It helps people who've invested in the Internet allocate bandwidth within their business."

This bandwidth allocation capability comes from technology within Xedia's routers. It allows administrators to classify network traffic, then adjust the levels of bandwidth allocated to these pre-assigned classes.

"They can allocate a certain amount of bandwidth for e-mail or Web browsing," Glenn said. "You wouldn't want a mission-critical operation being affected by an employee downloading the Starr report."

UUNet is leveraging the quality-of-service functionality in Xedia's routers, which is unique in the industry, said Ashley Stephenson, Xedia chairman. "We're the leader in that type of functionality,"he said.

Xedia has been selling its Access Point routers to leading ISPs for the past 12 to 18 months-a space previously reserved for Cisco Systems, said Stephenson.

UUNet's interest in Xedia should make a dent in Cisco's armor, said Dave Passmore, research director for NetReference. "UUNet chose Xedia's routers because of their fine-grained bandwidth management," he said. "Cisco doesn't have a traffic-shaping capability that fine-grained."

Xedia didn't initially promote the product as a router because it didn't want to go head-to-head with Cisco, Passmore said. "But now they're going to do just that."

UUNet will sell the service to companies, smaller ISPs and Internet resellers, Glenn said.