Start-up tool measures net performance

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By James Cope

(IDG) -- Networking start-up RouteScience Technologies Inc. this week announced a device that it says will let users analyze the performance of the Internet and then update their routers to send data to customers via the fastest paths.

Called PathControl, the device performs real-time analysis of the throughput between a company's network and Internet users. It will be priced between $140,000 and $250,000, depending on how it's configured, and is due for release in October, according to RouteScience CEO Herb Maden.

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That sounds like a high price to pay, said Larry Rapagnani, assistant provost of information systems at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Rapagnani said he will believe San Mateo, California-based RouteScience's claims of a performance increase of two to nine times when he sees it.

But Maden said the cost should be justified for financial services firms and other large users that hook up with customers over the Internet.

Susan Almeida, an analyst at Network Strategy Partners LLC in Boston, said performance on the Internet can already be enhanced by using technologies such as content caching tools. But, she added, the RouteScience device could help companies overcome the severe limitations of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which routers use to connect different networks.

The BGP can't determine the shortest routes between endpoints and instead selects Internet paths in a somewhat arbitrary fashion, said Almeida. PathControl is a "very pragmatic" way to deal with that problem, she added.

But what would really be useful, Almeida said, is a fully intelligent routing protocol that could guarantee performance across the Internet, a development she described as being "still a long way off."