Interwise Improves On-Line Collaboration Services Delivery with VisualPulse's Network Availability Reporting

As businesses are increasingly looking to reduce expenses and 'do more with less', many have adopted 'virtual meetings' and e-learning as a means to cut travel time and costs. Interwise, a leading provider in the on-line collaboration industry, enables customers to improve their bottom lines by delivering e-learning, Web meetings and Web casting in a single platform.  Customers including Microsoft, Peoplesoft, and Tyson Foods, find that Interwise's Enterprise Communication Platform (ECP) is less costly than face-to-face meetings, as easy as email and more powerful than the telephone.

Interwise's global network includes 12 data centers, which host their Expressway voice over IP (VoIP) and media services offering including Web casts, Internet seminars, and on-line classes. Through on-line collaboration, people around the globe can simultaneously pull up a common document on a virtual white board, see a common PowerPoint or other type presentation, or have a live voice cast -- all with hundreds of participants at a time.

By offering such services via the Internet, it is essential for Interwise to closely monitor their network performance and information technology (IT) environment. One of the key tools they have come to rely on to keep things running smoothly is VisualPulse, the network availability reporting tool that automatically monitors critical network and IT infrastructure components, including network devices, Web pages, servers and application ports. VisualPulse's automated traceroute capability logs connectivity information for every routing hop whenever problems occur, providing essential diagnostic information for rapid problem analysis.

Jeff Smith, a systems engineer responsible for implementing and maintaining the Expressway network at Interwise, selected VisualPulse due to its ease of use and reliable reporting of network latency. With VisualPulse installed at their headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., Smith monitors the availability of all their data centers, and can readily see when and where a problem is occurring. "VisualPulse instantly tells us if the problem is with a particular server, or with the network connectivity as a whole, which saves us a lot of critical time when we troubleshoot a problem." Smith said. As Interwise provides live events to hundreds of people at a time, any network connectivity problems could immediately impact service to customers. "Interwise's reputation for unrivaled customer service stems in great part to our ability to anticipate and avoid potential customer issues. VisualPulse has reduced our problem notification time from five valuable minutes to just seconds; helping us to identify and resolve trouble spots quickly. "

For example, Smith indicated that Interwise had experienced a recent issue with their data center in Australia - a situation which potentially posed service constraints during an important meeting. Previously, troubleshooting a network problem between Australia and Boston consumed considerable time and resources while they investigated the problem. Using VisualPulse's traceroute capabilities, Smith and his team could readily see that the problem was occurring on the ISP network in Australia, allowing them to restore service to that particular data center quickly before the Interwise system was forced to default to another data center server.

Smith also likes VisualPulse's historical reporting capabilities - he can easily see past connectivity measures for network latency, which provide a baseline for normal responses. For instance he can easily discern how long a connection will take from Boston to Beijing, so that abnormal behavior can be readily detected. Additionally, the historical reporting is helpful for the 24/7 support staff to share information - no matter when shifts change, the VisualPulse reports show the network and server availability been for the past hour, 24 hours and 30 days, providing more 'seamless' support services.