GigaTrunk™ Probe provides complete visibility into the enterprise core to maximise uptime
Network Instruments gigabit trunking solution offers full-duplex, wire-speed capture and
passive analysis for up to four trunks at the enterprise core
Minneapolis, MN – February 25, 2003 – Network Instruments, a developer of user-friendly and affordable network management solutions, announces today the new GigaTrunk Probe, designed for managing trunked gigabit links located at the core of the network. The full-duplex solution offers real-times statistics and bandwidth utilisation in aggregate and link-by-link, providing IT administrators with a way of proactively maintaining round-the-clock accessibility of gigabit trunked links. Thanks to the GigaTrunk Probe, IT professionals are able to monitor up to four trunked links simultaneously, and capture increased levels of data without packet loss, while avoiding disruption of network traffic.
The GigaTrunk Probe supports up to four-gigabit links, carrying up to eight Gbps of traffic. To support these rates, the GigaTrunk Probe uses specifically designed 64-bit, 66 MHz gigabit Ethernet cards, giving the probe a way to guarantee data rate capture and analysis. The probe is designed to passively capture data in real time at the trunk level without interfering with the network. Conversations can therefore be viewed in aggregate across trunks, or packet-by-packet for detailed investigations. The product includes a 4GB packet capture buffer to capture and review 40 times more troubleshooting data than that of competitive offerings.
Enterprise IT organizations utilise trunking to create multi-gigabit pipes, aggregating data through the core - the highest traffic area of the network. The aggregation improves response times and provides bandwidth savings by balancing network load and providing failover redundancy.
"Enterprise networks require powerful visibility and insight into the core of their operations," said Douglas Smith, president of Network Instruments. "The new GigaTrunk Probe provides today's IT professional with capabilities to troubleshoot individual trunked links as well as the ability to monitor load-balanced trunks for greater efficiency. Our GigaTrunk Probe offers an economically viable way of managing these critical gigabit links for guaranteed uptime and availability - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year."
"Compared with similar products in the market, the GigaTrunk Probe has a larger memory buffer, more RAM, a bigger hard-drive and can capture at line-rate without disrupting the network," said Andriy Oliinyk, vice president of engineering at Network Instruments. "By connecting into the main arteries of a network through the installation of a TAP (Test Access Point), the solution ensures a completely passive option allowing greater efficiency than using a SPAN port on a switch."
The GigaTrunk Probe reports back to the Expert Observer® or Observer Suite console. Using the console and the GigaTrunk Probe, network administrators can perform Packet Capture and Decode, obtain Real-Time Statistics, perform Expert Analysis and utilize Network Trending and Reporting with nanosecond resolution for high-capacity networks.
The GigaTrunk Probe is competitively priced and available in three formats: two-trunked links for £25K, three-trunked links for £29K or four-trunked links for £33K. All prices are inclusive of software, hardware and any necessary TAPs that may be required for passive analysis. The hardware appliance adheres to the industry 4U form factor for easy installation into any existing rack system.
About Network Instruments
Network Instruments is the industry leading developer of user-friendly and affordable network management, analysis and troubleshooting solutions. The award-winning Observer family of products combines a comprehensive management and analysis console with high-performance remote Probes to provide integrated monitoring and management for the entire network (LAN, 802.11 a/b/g, Gigabit,WAN). All Network Instruments products are designed utilizing our Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA) architecture. With NI-DNA, the Observer solution set simplifies network troubleshooting and management, optimizes network and application performance and scales to meet the needs of any organization. Founded in 1994, Network Instruments is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with offices in London, Paris, throughout the USA and distributors in 50 countries. More information about the company, products, innovation, technology, NI-DNA, becoming a partner and NI University can be found at www.networkinstruments.com .
