ADC's ServicePoint Manager Puts Powerful Bandwidth Management Controls at the Network Edge.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 2001

ADC's Innovative Software Helps Network Managers Better Manage

Application Performance and Service Provider Services

Network managers can better manage and control their application performance, thanks to new management software just introduced by ADC (Nasdaq: ADCT; www.adc.com). The ServicePoint(TM) Manager Software System supports ServicePoint SDUs (Service Delivery Units) WAN access devices. ServicePoint SDU's sit at the edge of the enterprise network and include functionality for control, monitoring and administration of the network.

ServicePoint Manager gives users the ability to manage network application behavior by fine-tuning how applications use WAN resources.

"Adding monitoring and control functionality at the point of demarcation between the LAN and WAN is ideal because this is the only neutral location to view traffic within the WAN and observe exactly how bandwidth is being used," said Dr. James Metzler, a leading industry analyst and president of Ashton, Metzler & Associates, Inc. "The benefits of the control functionality in ADC's ServicePoint Manager means that network managers can now ensure application response for their most critical business applications."

Provides for Critical Applications while Control Functionality

Boosts Performance

With end-to-end control, ServicePoint Manager software helps network managers deliver the best possible application performance. At the LAN and WAN demarc, only ServicePoint offers "service partitioning," the function of delivering performance for critical applications, regardless of network congestion. Bandwidth partitioning capabilities are essential for giving mission-critical applications, such as SAP and SNA, the bandwidth they need to deliver acceptable performance. Service partitioning gives users the ability to assign e-commerce applications specific amounts of bandwidth simultaneously. This prevents delays caused by large bursts of SNA/SAP traffic.

In addition, ServicePoint is one of a few products that can simultaneously monitor WAN performance, obtain detailed reports showing how much WAN bandwidth is being consumed and by what applications, and guarantee that critical applications receive the resources they need.

"With ServicePoint, users can measure real application response time and make a clear determination of how response time affects their business," said Clyde Jenkins, vice president and general manager of ADC's Access Products Division. "The information available through ServicePoint Manager is designed to help enterprises plan future network requirements and outsource network services with confidence."

ServicePoint SDUs incorporate the extensive capabilities of Packeteer's PacketWise(TM) technology. This technology makes it possible for the ServicePoint Manager "control" features to prevent network congestion and packet loss conditions that can occur in router networks. Applications are given specific parameters for data emission, allowing optimum throughput and performance. The ServicePoint controls are compatible with, and can enhance, any QoS mechanisms which may already be active in the routers.

Reducing Costly Network Downtime and Slowtime

Network downtime is one of the biggest expenses for businesses today. Recent studies from Infonetics Research estimates US companies, both medium (101 to 1,000 employees) and large (with more than 1,000 employees) average an annual loss of $32.7 million due to WAN downtime and service degradation. Reduced employee productivity nearly doubles this cost. Slow application response time is also costly.

Using ServicePoint Manager, IT managers can implement a bandwidth partitioning strategy to place priorities on all incoming and outgoing enterprise WAN communication traffic, improving network and application performance. For example, using ServicePoint Manager, a network manager might discover that the enterprise is experiencing a temporary slowdown in mission-critical applications during specific times of the day. Using the monitoring and reporting capability of ServicePoint, the IT staff determines that lower priority e-mail and web surfing is absorbing bandwidth and interfering with mission-critical application. Simple controls can be defined to limit bandwidth consumption by non-critical applications. As a result, critical applications perform even during peak hours.

"ServicePoint Manager was designed to provide the detailed view and data required to analyze different aspects of WAN performance," said Jenkins. "The sophisticated control and monitoring capabilities of ServicePoint Manager is akin to increasing the head count of your IT department without adding new employees, because the system continuously monitors the network for potential problems."

Network managers can rely on ServicePoint Manager to identify current and potential problem sources such as availability of individual network links across service provider boundaries, bandwidth utilization on individual network links, and to identify overloaded circuits that are dropping packets leading to further performance degradation. By examining this data regularly over time, enterprise managers can identify potential causes of WAN downtime and work with their service provider to correct problems.

Pricing and Availability

ServicePoint consists of a combination of hardware and software products, including Service Delivery Units, ServicePoint Configurator, Monitor and Control software upgrades and the comprehensive ServicePoint Manager management and reporting system. Baseline software included in all SDUs provides standard DSU functionality, plus embedded SNMP agent, Ethernet management, user-friendly front panel and diagnostic LEDs. It is available now at $3,995 for the ServicePoint 2040-tmc; $4,495 for the ServicePoint 2140-tmc. ServicePoint-tmc upgrades are also available at $1,600 for models 2040-tm and 2140-tm. ServicePoint Manager application software list price is $19,995. Additionally, ADC now offers a ServicePoint stand-alone mounting shelf. The compact size of this sleek enclosure reduces rack space requirements and allows users to deploy up to 9 stand-alone SDUs in a single rack.

For more information about ServicePoint Manager or ServicePoint SDUs, visit our Web site at www.adc.com/access/servicepoint or call us at 1-800-733-5511.

About ADC

ADC is The Broadband Company(TM). ADC's fiber optics, network equipment, software and integration services make broadband communications a reality worldwide by enabling communications service providers to deliver high-speed Internet, data, video and voice services to consumers and businesses. ADC (Nasdaq: ADCT) has annual sales of over $3.2 billion and employs more than 22,400 people worldwide. ADC's stock is included in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq-100 Index. Learn more about ADC Telecommunications, Inc. at www.adc.com.

Editor's Note: For a high resolution photo, go to www.adc.com/photos