RouteScience To Roll Out Channel Program

The vendor, which has been selling directly to large enterprise clients such as Qualcomm and search engine Google since it began shipping product last October, is now looking to further penetrate the Global 3000 market with the help of solution providers, said Rob Pursell, director of product marketing at RouteScience, based here.

"Now that we're starting to have customer momentum, we figure the time is right to establish relationships with VARs [to expand our market," Pursell said.

RouteScience's PathControl appliances sit behind Internet edge routers and monitor ISP paths in realtime. Based on the performance, utilization and cost of the link, the PathControl device determines the optimal path and tells the router how to route traffic. This serves to protect against service degradation and to lower bandwidth costs, Pursell said.

Route-control technology has piqued the interest of some solution providers.

"It would be a tremendous value-add if we could maximize value and reduce the routing costs customers have," said Amir Sohrabi, executive vice president at solution provider MSPX, Arlington, Va.

Robert Cohen, president of New York solution provider CGAtlantic, called the technology intriguing but said solution providers should carefully consider whether the benefit to the customer outweighs the cost of implementing the technology.

"Trying to get predictable, consistent performance on your Internet traffic is a good thing, something that certainly would add to the sales appeal. But if you're going to use it, you have to balance the extra incentive vs. the extra cost," Cohen said.

Solution providers that add route-control technology to their VPN solutions could capitalize on the current uncertainty surrounding service providers such as WorldCom, Pursell said.

"Customers are trying to find ways to add multiple providers, but it's not so easy to add a second frame relay provider. You have to build a duplicate network over your existing one," he said.

Instead, solution providers can set up customers with VPNs and squelch any reliability concerns they may have about utilizing the public Internet by implementing route-control technology, Pursell said.

RouteScience also plans this week to launch the Carrier Insurance Program, a promotion designed to spur sales for channel partners, he said. Through October, partners can sell the PathControl 5008 device with support for two ISP links and a reporting module for $59,900. The configuration normally retails for $92,000, according to RouteScience.