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Today’s network administrators have their work cut out for them. Traffic is growing exponentially, yet networks must be kept online and everything that is sent over them must be monitored to comply with security and privacy regulations.

As the sheer volume of network traffic scales ever upward, systems now used to manage and monitor traffic are rapidly becoming obsolete.

“By 2015, traffic on the Internet will be growing at the same pace as the Internet’s entire size today,” said Paul Hooper, VP of Marketing at Gigamon (News - Alert), during a TMCnet video interview. “The same thing is happening in the enterprise as video gains traction. Traffic management tools being used now can’t deal with the volume. “

The need to have visibility across the whole network, as it scales and as traffic grows, provides an opportunity for companies like Gigamon to develop solutions that allow IT managers to keep pace.

One of Gigamon’s latest solutions, rolled out this summer, is GigaVUE-HD8, a high density data access switch (chassis). It’s designed for financial institutions, schools, hospitals and other organization that need to perform sophisticated monitoring and recording of network traffic for compliance purposes.

The terabyte HD8 is capable of 40- and 100-gigabit speeds. But, Hooper pointed out, it’s not just about raw speed and feed. The chassis also includes a greater degree of built-in intelligence for traffic monitoring.

Another new Gigamon product, GigaSECURE, is a bypass switch that allows IT managers to intelligently place intrusion prevention system (IPS) and intrusion detection system (IDS) devices in the line of traffic, using failsafe methods to retain monitoring during outages.

Gigamon also recently introduced a series of extensions for its GigaSMART technology; it is now possible to intelligently manipulate traffic, copy it, de-duplify it (ensure data are fed through the tool only one time), and modify data for security purposes.

Solutions like these are helping network administrators face the onslaught of increased traffic with more confidence. Continued vigilance and innovation will be needed, of course, to keep up with demand.

Watch the full interview for more discussion about monitoring and managing network traffic, including the impact video is having on enterprise networks and the Internet.

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