MASERGY GIVES POWER TO THE PEOPLE

With an IP network designed around multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) for improved traffic engineering, Masergy Communi-cations Inc. is giving medium-sized and large businesses the ability to manage business applications, without the hassle and upfront costs of building and maintaining various types of networks.

We're a "global provider of customer-controlled network services to enhance applications performance," says Kenneth Frank, vice president of operations and engineering of Masergy, an Irving, Texas-based company founded in October 2000.

To achieve such a service, the company has tied together a host of solutions, such as underlying optical transport from Level 3 Communications Inc., an MPLS backbone and core IP routing from Juniper Networks Inc., Ethernet cross connects from Extreme Networks, IP telephony gateways from Sonus Networks Inc., customer aggregation from Tiara Networks Inc. and management infrastructure, CPE and ancillary routing capabilities from Cisco Systems Inc.

In addition, Masergy is working with vendors such as BroadSoft Inc. to deliver voice services as an application over the data network.

"What we've done is allow customers to take traditional PBX's and interface those into the IP network for calls that are going between the company's various locations instead of using the PSTN and local phone company," Frank says.

In the debut of The X Factor, a monthly feature designed to spotlight service providers and their unique offerings, Frank discusses how Masergy is able to give customers more power over their network.

X: What attracted you to the solution you are now offering?

Frank: The ability to provide quality guarantees, which are controlled per application by the customer.

X: What problems were solved by the technology you are using?

Frank: Masergy delivers multiple levels of quality of service (QoS) on a single network connection to accommodate the differing QoS requirements of various applications. The network also gives businesses the opportunity to prioritize important applications over less critical applications. With the increased adoption of new business applications such as IP voice and IP video, variable QoS services will only grow in their importance to customers. Masergy's solution facilitates an enterprise's transition to IP while providing improved performance guarantees.

X: In a tight economic market, what gave you indications that customers would want this service?

Frank: Despite today's technology slump, companies have an even greater need to manage their network traffic more efficiently. In fact, with the slowdown in tech spending, companies may want to tie their spending to actual activity on their networks, rather than having to buy capacity for peak usage. Masergy's ability to help companies better manage their applications is attracting customers and investors alike. In fact, in September 2001, Masergy closed a Series A round of funding at just over $57 million.

X: How does this new service impact your company's role in its customers' lives?

Frank: Typically, customers have not had control over their networks. Masergy's web-enabled portal allows customers to view and control the applications running across the network. Customers can prioritize their applications and fine-tune application performance to align their technology with corporate priorities. All of these capabilities are delivered at a price usually paid just for the network connection.

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