eChannelLine Daily News 19-December-2005 Cymphonix optimizes SMB Internet usage by Alan Thwaits Network Shaper NS25, a new solution from Sandy, Utah-based Cymphonix Corp., promises to make Internet usage easier for small businesses and branch offices. Network Shaper NS25 is a WAN performance management device that allows small businesses and branch offices to monitor, control and optimize Internet usage by ensuring that high-priority traffic gets through and that unnecessary or unauthorized traffic does not negatively impact network resources. The result, according to Cymphonix, is dramatically improved application response times and increased productivity. "Internet connectivity to remote and branch offices is a critical resource for communicating and doing business," said Kevin Santiago, president and CEO of Cymphonix. "The users at these locations often suffer from congestion and inconsistency in their access due to non-essential usage. Network Shaper gives these businesses control over Internet usage to increase their Internet performance." Network Shaper NS25, which uses Cymphonix's patent-pending Cross-Layer Intelligence (XLi) technology, ensures the availability of network resources by providing a real-time view of Internet bandwidth usage, and by allowing control over user access. Administrators can also assign priority to mission-critical traffic, by application and by user, and limit or stop undesirable traffic. Network Shaper NS25 enables organizations to get a real-time view of the users and applications that are putting a strain on the bandwidth, along with the Web sites being visited by each user. Once administrators identify existing or potential bottlenecks, they can allocate bandwidth priority to mission-critical applications and to essential users. The NS25 product integrates network protection, application performance, and traffic visibility into a single, easily managed solution. "Network Shaper NS25 is a new opportunity to offer distributed environments at very affordable price points," explained Mike Montrose, Cymphonix's vice president of sales and marketing. "It's targeted at the mid-market space, which for us means businesses with between 50 and 3,000 users, either in a single location or distributed environments, such as banks." Network Shaper NS25, which services up to 25 users, is now available through Cymphonix channel partners for $495 (U.S.). "This is a compelling offering, because it's very competitive," said Montrose. "In essence, Network Shaper NS25 combines two solutions in one very intelligent offering. On the security side, it provides a Unified Threat Management solution. On the performance side, it offers prioritization, which is Cymphonix's core intellectual property. And our margins provide a very good structure for the channel. Our channel partners tell us that it's a 'door opener' for them." At present, Cymphonix has approximately 350 dealers in its partner network in the U.S., and is actively pursuing channel partners in Canada.