DUBLIN -- Shenick, a leading provider of network and application performance assurance test systems and software, today announced the general availability of its new peer-to-peer (P2P) application modelling and emulation feature for its diversifEye (tm) product.

The new feature will enable service providers, equipment vendors, integrators and enterprises to effectively gauge the side effects of P2P applications traffic. It allows analysis of individual customer network service levels and also determines the `noise' effects on legitimate delay-sensitive corporate and consumer applications such as Multicast Video, Voice over IP (VoIP), subscription based streaming media services and customer response time-sensitive web applications.

Commenting on the inclusion of peer-to peer-application modeling in a network and application test environment, Jessy Cavazos, Industry Analyst - Communication Test, Frost & Sullivan said, "P2P traffic is here to stay so service providers, large corporates and equipment vendors must have a test strategy to determine cause and effect of P2P application traffic. Thereafter, upon implementation of control measures such as rate limiting and application priority, testing must be further conducted to assure continued customer QoS"

Shenick diversifEye already offers the capability to emulate and determine QoS characteristics on a per service and per application flow basis, in both real time and long run test modes with full automation. A complete application flows and layer 2 services test scenario can be conducted under a variety of operational conditions. With the addition of P2P emulation to Shenick's existing line up of applications support, which includes HTTP, SMTP/POP3, IGMP Multicast, Streaming media and full emulation of the underlying layer 2 service characteristics, realistic QoS boundaries and limitations can now be readily determined.

"The traditional `Internet mix' of web and email traffic has shifted significantly to the point where, in Japan for example, over 70 percent of internet traffic from the top 5 percent of users now comprises P2P applications," said Robert Winters, chief marketing officer, Shenick. "P2P traffic has a very real effect on bandwidth and the integrity of other delay-sensitive IP application flows sharing the same network resources. Therefore, it is vital to determine the potential effects of a rise in peer-to-peer applications traffic on customer quality of service (QoS) at both network and application layers."

Shenick Software Systems Ltd.