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Network Instruments® GigaStor™ Portable Provides CSI On The Fly

First Portable Retrospective Analysis Solution Integrates Network, Application, and Security Forensics

May 15, 2007 – Minneapolis, MN – Network Instruments, a leading provider of innovative analysis solutions for in-depth network intelligence and continuous availability, today announced the release of its GigaStor Portable appliance, the first self-contained mobile forensics system for troubleshooting intermittent network, application, and security problems wherever they occur.

“Network Instruments has been at the forefront of the retrospective network analysis (RNA) market,” said Douglas Smith, president and co-founder of Network Instruments. “To answer the demands of many customers for a mobile solution, we are now the first to introduce a portable RNA solution. GigaStor Portable is a simple plug-and-play solution that includes the cabling and nTAP you’ll need to install the appliance on any network and start recording traffic.”

The GigaStor Portable retrospective analysis appliance can be deployed to any remote location to collect and save hours to weeks of packet-level data, which it can decode, analyze, and display. With its unique time-based navigation, the GigaStor Portable can quickly sift through the data, isolate an incident, and provide a detailed packet-level view before, during, and after problem occurrences.

Without the visibility provided by GigaStor Portable, network, application, and security teams are forced to potentially spend hours replicating a network error before they can diagnose its cause. The GigaStor Portable allows the administrator to simply rewind to the point of the problem, identify the issue, and quickly work on a resolution.

“Network, application and server fault and performance problems are most difficult to solve when they are intermittent,” said Steve Steinke, Senior Analyst with The 451 Group, a technology industry analyst company focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation, in a report. “An accessible repository of network traffic allows users to dial in the range of time when a problem occurred, not unlike the way a TiVo allows instant replay.”

Steinke continued in another report, “Using multi-terabyte drive arrays to store days' and weeks' worth of network traffic was a niche strategy a few years ago, but now pretty much all the analysis vendors offer something similar. Network Instruments is one of the leaders in finding new uses for this technology.”  These comments appeared in independent reports titled “Network Instruments-NetQoS partnership aimed at product integration,” published on January 4, 2007 and “Network Instruments releases Observer 12, touting security and scalability enhancements,” published on March 14, 2007 (see Editor’s Note below).

In addition to being the first portable retrospective analysis solution, GigaStor Portable also provides comprehensive security Experts to diagnose the source of a security breach.  With Security Forensics, GigaStor Portable uses post-capture analysis with Snort Rules to determine whether a security breach occurred by comparing the historical traffic against a list of thousands of known attacks and anomalies. If a breach is identified, GigaStor provides drill-down analysis to determine the source and time of the occurrence.

Product Pricing
The GigaStor Portable begins at $26,995. The appliance analyzes traffic across multiple network topologies, including gigabit, 10 GbE, WAN, and Fibre Channel. The luggable, all-in-one unit contains Observer Suite and GigaStor technology as well as all required cabling, a dual-processor Windows XP Pro x64 system, built-in, 15-inch active matrix display, keyboard, and trackpad; and 1.5 TB total storage. The GigaStor Portable weighs 25 lbs, and under 50 lbs with the ATA hard-sided travel case. Additional product information is available at www.networkinstruments.com.

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About Network Instruments
Network Instruments provides in-depth network intelligence and continuous network availability through innovative analysis solutions. Enterprise network professionals depend on Network Instruments’ Observer product line for unparalleled network visibility to efficiently solve network problems and manage deployments. By combining a powerful management console with high-performance analysis appliances, Observer simplifies problem resolution and optimizes network and application performance. The company continues to lead the industry in ROI with its advanced Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA™) architecture, which successfully integrates comprehensive analysis functionality across heterogeneous networks through a single monitoring interface. Network Instruments is headquartered in Minneapolis with sales offices worldwide and distributors in over 50 countries. For more information about the company, products, technology, NI-DNA, becoming a partner, and NI University please visit www.networkinstruments.com.

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Editor’s Note: The 451 Group’s reports, “Network Instruments-NetQoS partnership aimed at product integration” and “Network Instruments releases Observer 12, touting security and scalability enhancements,” referenced above, are independently-produced reports that were neither sponsored by nor otherwise directly funded by Network Instruments. The reports and its entire contents are the sole property of The 451 Group, copyright 2007, and are reproduced here by permission. The entire contents of these reports are available at www.the451group.com.

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