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But why is this glut of network-centric add-ons happening now?

The rapid swelling in the number of ancillary products designed to make modern business networks work more efficiently may be, in large part, a consequence of a major shift in the way companies use those networks.

"Traffic flows, especially in the , have shifted fairly dramatically over the last five to seven years," says Abner Germano,w Juniper Networks' director of enterprise marketing.

The continuing transition away from the client- model of computing, in the business world, means that the existing tree-like architectures used to service complex networks are increasingly inefficient, he says.