Predictive Network Capacity Planning Tool

ISPs, Web hosters, E-Commerce providers and similar businesses, can now virtually eliminate service disruptions due to unexpected capacity shortfalls.

by Ted Stevenson ISP-Planet Managing Editor [January 13, 2000]

Clairvoyant Software last week announced the release of ForeCAST Resource Manager, a software application that, according to the company is "the first product capable of true predictive capacity planning" for Internet access and E-commerce providers.

Specifically, the tool predicts when network and system resources will reach saturation levels and additional capacity will be needed. It can be calibrated to give months of warning, if need be.

Be prepared
"As providers roll out ambitious marketing plans to acquire additional customers or generate incremental revenue, they become more cognizant of their network infrastructure," says Clairvoyant President and CEO, Greg Hampton. "Ultimately, companies realize that if the capacity isn't there to support the services, they'll end up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal." ForeCAST provides this vital information with ample notice in a simple and accurate format, Hampton notes.

"As competition for delivering IP services continues to increase, a tool like ForeCAST Resource Manager will be instrumental in order to ensure the continuous delivery of IP services to customers," commented Greg Howard, Principal Analyst at the HTRC Group.

Two products in one
ForeCAST Resource Manager will be available in two versions, one for Internet access, and one for E-commerce. The Net access version predicts future capacity requirements to sustain performance levels for IP services, including dial and dedicated Internet access, VPNs, and dedicated WAN bandwidth. The product provides multiple network views—such as by resource type—POP location, network site, VPN, and uplink vendor. Reports are available by resource type, critical time period, or location.

The-Commerce version predicts future capacity requirements by discovering when Web, application, and/or database servers' CPU, memory, or disk storage will reach specified saturation levels. It can also determine when a WAN link or an Ethernet switch port will reach specified levels of saturation.

Scenario swapping
Because precise capacity planning requires a highly granular compilation of network traffic data, Clairvoyant has combined a distributed architecture along with its own patent-pending methodology to gather and store utilization data for each resource every 30 seconds. Users of ForeCAST can select saturation values that can be set between zero and 99 minutes per day for each resource. This flexibility allows users to work with "what if" scenarios to better assess the potential impact of planned and unplanned usage patterns.

"In addition to providing a tool that gives notice of necessary network capacity upgrades, Clairvoyant Software also presents companies the data to help justify expenditures for additional capacity based on growth," said HTRC Group's Greg Howard.

Pricing, availability, etc.
Aimed at ISPs, ASPs, and colocation and Web hosting providers, ForeCAST Resource Manager for Internet Access is available now, starting at $5,000 per license. ForeCAST Resource Manager for e-Commerce will be available later in Q1 of this year. Pricing for this version starts at $10,000.

Software requirements for deploying ForeCAST Resource Manager include Red Hat Linux 5.1 or later, and Apache 1.3.1 or later Web server. Hardware requirements include a Pentium-class PC running at 266MHz or faster with at least 64 MB RAM and two GB of hard drive storage. ForeCAST may be purchased bundled with Cobalt Networks, Inc. Cobalt RaQ 2 server appliance.

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