Application and Overview of Network Products

	Analysis Tools such as Protocol Analyzers starting with packet capture and decode provide in-depth analysis. Application Performance Analyzers provides network analysis of applicatons and code that perform poorly. And, Forensics and Audit products require a complete record of your network traffic with analysis and reconstructive tools.
		Network Load and Stress Test: Generate Network Traffic to test Network Configuration or Network Devices. With WAN Emulation it can be used to simulate an entire routed network to further test devices with network impairments.
	By simulating network impairments a WAN Emulator can be used to test applications under a variety of network conditions.
	The bandwidth intense nature of newer applications requires a different type of network planning.
	Physical Layer Switches Physical Layer switches are "wire-once" switching solutions ideal for test labs, where connections are set once and then reconfigured via software.
	Specific technologies such as 10 Gigabit, Wireless and VoIP have special requirements.
	Monitoring products actively interrogate devices and networks to provide alarms when problems arise.

Protocol Analysis

As data streams travel back and forth over the network, the sniffer, protocol analyzer or network analyzer captures each packet. Today's analyzer's not only decode packets but can be used to gather statistics, or store the packets for forensic anaylsis.

Observer Product Family

Through an integrated line of consoles, probes, appliances, and add-on modules, Observer provides visibility into every corner of your infrastructure so you can effectively manage and monitor wired and wireless networks. The software installed on a laptop can be an ideal portable analyzer. Observer with Expert packet capture analysis provides immediate solutions on network problems including VoIP Analysis, NetFlow, Application Analysis, and the means to isolate transaction issues. Probes such as GigaStor can store terabytes of information and provide packet history for post analysis of network events. More Details

Application Analyzers

Application performance of networked applications can only be evaluated by the interplay of packets between clients and servers. Advanced protocol analyzers can help break out the cause to network, client or server. More specialized products can deliver code thread analysis and predictive analysis required by quality assurance and development teams.

Expert Observer is a feature rich network analyzer that has application analysis components. Features such as Connection Dynamics provides a graphical view of system conversations and Time Interval Analysis shows network errors organized by time periods.

Application Vantage pinpoints the causes of poor end-user response times to the client, the network, a server or the application itself. Optional WAN Deployment Expert (WDE) predicts application performance for WAN connections. More on application analysis products.

Forensics and Audit

GigaStor can store terabytes of information and provide packet history for post analysis of network events.

nVision is an easy to use tool for network mapping, identifying hardware and software assets.

Network Test

To test the network means different things to different people. Some want to generate network traffic while others may want to simulate network connections and impair the packets.

Others are trying to diagnose the network to understand impairments or the composition of traffic across a network segment. Others want to understand how networks impact application performance. (Click Analysis tab above for more information on these products.)

LANforge is perfect for Stress and Load Testing of networks and devices.

LANforge FIRE is used for Traffic Generation and simulates the edge of the network under test. LANforge FIRE is a network traffic generator that supports testing for Ethernet, Wireless, VOIP and custom payloads. There is now a solution for testing 10 Gigabit Networks.

The LANforge ICE configuration is used to simulate the core of a network, and will be used to test and verify equipment that communicates through the core. LANforge ICE is able to emulate WAN networks with latency, throughput, and packet degradation.

Network Planning

The bandwidth intense nature of next generation applications requires a different type of network planning. No longer is extrapolating utilization trends acceptable. New WAN connections, security requirements and streaming applications require the use of VLAN's and QOS.

This requires tools to determine current utilization, test and understand how newly configured networks and the applications they carry will behave. Our tools such as LANforge, Application Vantage, Expert Observer and nVision provide the information to sucessfuly grow a network.

Many of these product types tend to be described as Network Monitors, which is a very generic description. The Management aspect of these products comes from statistical reporting and event notification that is triggered by the monitoring. This is sometimes referred to as fault management.

Netreo's OmniCenter® provides real-time fault, application, performance, service-level-agreement (SLA), and configuration management, all without agents, probes, or special client software through an easy-to-use web interface.

The Observer Reporting Server lets you manage network performance with enterprise-wide views, macro- and micro-level reporting, and deep drill-down.

Observer Reporting Server integrates with GigaStor, combining high-level reporting with forensics in a seamless solution.

Observer Infrastructure provides graphical network mapping, device up-time monitor, response time, route analysis and QoS management. Take advantage of SNMP & WMI data to monitor switches and routers, Active Directory Servers, Host Resources, Internet Information Servers and more, or create custom monitors. Be alerted when a device is unreachable, has poor response time, or exceeded performance thresholds.

Compuware Vantage, an IT service management solution, enables business-driven service delivery by combining business-focused reporting, end-user experience monitoring and application analytics with infrastructure and service desk metrics, whether provided by Compuware solutions or third-party tools.

NetworkVantage
A passive monitoring solution, ideal for ATM, Frame Relay and OC that delivers enterprise-wide metrics on application performance and network resource consumption. It gathers traffic flow information for over 2000 applications and protocols.

nVision is an easy to use tool for network mapping and visualization, identifying hardware and software assets, remotely monitoring and managing computers and devices, and monitoring key application servers and user activity.

Gigabit and 10 Gigabit

Gigabit and 10 gigabit Ethernet networks mean high-speed communication, on-demand systems, and improved business functions. Special capture technology and high performance appliances may be required to maximize analysis. Network Instruments Observer Gigabit and 10 Gb solutions provide multiple scalable options for enterprise organizations demanding a complete approach to network management.

VoIP

VoIP and other unified communications applications add new strain to already complex networks. VoIP monitoring and analysis tools require validation of QOS, understanding Jitter and Lost packets an other information to ensure quality of a VoIP network from pre-deployment through daily maintenance.

VoIP’s main challenge is it's extreme sensitivity to delay and packet loss compared with other network applications. LANforge Fire can generate VoIP traffic to test the tuning of your network. Observer analyzers provide the necessary analysis of network traffic, QOS, VoIP traffic, call flows and quality metrics.

OmniCenter® Voice™ is available as a stand-alone appliance, or as an integrated feature in Netreo’s flagship OmniCenter® Enterprise appliance, providing cost-effective and easy-to-deploy management and troubleshooting for IP Telephony environments. It provides in-depth visibility to all components of a Voice infrastructure, including voice mail, station sets, gateway, and server resources, displaying them all on a single “pane-of-glass”.

Wireless

Determining optimal Wireless access point locations, verifying performance, performing site surveys and audits and maintaining wireless communications requires a variety of wireless metrics, including signal strength and quality, and data transfer rates. LANforge Wi-Fire can generate Wireless traffic to test the tuning of your network. Observer analyzers provide the necessary analysis of all aspect of a wireless network.

Virtualization

Network Instruments virtual solutions solve these issues by providing full access to virtual traffic on the wire, between hosts, and even between virtual machines within a single host.