Network Slowdown Underscores Value of Remote Network Monitoring
 

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan — May 30, 2007 —Organizations have long monitored and managed their networks using in-house staff. Remote network monitoring by a third party is relatively new and is becoming more popular among organizations with small IT staffs or those who are available only during normal business hours. A recent network slowdown at Unique Industries, a Philadelphia manufacturer and distributor of party merchandise, demonstrates the value of this service.

Discovered late at night by Appia Communications engineers, Unique ’s network slowdown significantly delayed the transmission of data from its various sites. Using Appia ’s network management and monitoring system, Appia engineers determined that utilization of Unique’s Internet connection exceeded 70 percent.

The engineers found that the excess traffic originated from a server on Unique ’s internal network. “Our Internet connection was experiencing extreme and intermittent slowness, and our ISP claimed that it was a result of overutilization of our T1, ” said a spokesman at Unique. “Using its network monitoring system, Appia was able to traverse our network, including switches, routers, and firewalls, to identify a server that was unknowingly acting as an open SMTP relay. ”

“Appia then isolated the server from the network and provided live trending information to confirm that the problem had been identified and isolated,” continued the spokesman. “Live trending gave us the real time graphical information we needed to measure the problem. The problem was difficult to diagnose due to its unpredictable nature — short bursts of high amounts of traffic that slowed down Internet usage — but Appia allowed us to isolate it and correct it. ”

Once identified, the server was isolated from the network. Unique ’s IT staff worked on the server without impacting users. Within hours, Unique ’s network was back to normal operation.

To read the complete case study, or for more information about WANCare network monitoring from Appia, please visit www.appiaservices.com, or call 877–277–4297.

About Appia Communications

Appia Communications is a leading provider of managed IT and telecommunications services. Our mission is to enable small and mid–sized companies and organizations to realize the benefits of Internet Protocol (IP) technology. Our managed solutions help our customers to reduce costs, enhance employee productivity, improve customer care, and allow them to compete more effectively against much larger enterprises.

Headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan, Appia has operations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and other markets in North America and Europe. For more information, please call 877–277–4297 or visit www.appiaservices.com.

Media Contact

Nick Nerbonne
Marketing Communications Manager
(231) 929-0970
nick@appiaservices.com