Net Optics Unveils New Network Packet Broker Solution

By Rajani Baburajan, TMCnet Contributor

Network packet brokers (NPBs) allow organizations to gain better visibility into all of the traffic taking place in their network, as well as enables them to ramp up operational efficiency and see much better ROI.

In fact, according to a recent Gartner (News - Alert) report from Jonah Kowall and Debra Curtis, “The use of network packet brokers (NPBs) allows better visibility into and longevity of tool investments spanning network performance monitoring (NPM), application performance monitoring (APM (News - Alert)), security, network forensics and other monitoring technologies that require packet data.”

To help organizations enhance network monitoring efficiency and security, Net Optics (News - Alert), a provider of an intelligent network access and monitoring architecture, recently unveiled the xStream 4.0 Family. The network packet broker increases data monitoring coverage while dramatically reducing complexity and accelerating the widespread adoption of new monitoring solutions.

These products deliver advanced capabilities for ease of use and an improved customer experience. With its seamless integration and smooth scalability, the solution complements powerful, high-performance monitoring and load balancing – all fortified with agile, intuitive management.

Important components of the xStream 4.0 platform are: xBalancer, Director xStream 4.0 Data Monitoring Switch and iLink Agg xStream 4.0 Monitoring Link Aggregator.

xBalancer, a load-balancing tool for 10G and 1G networks, monitors network traffic and prevents tool overburdening. It distributes traffic to multiple monitoring tools, optimizing current resources by sharing the load caused by processing high traffic volumes.

In addition, the Director xStream 4.0 Data Monitoring Switch aggregates, regenerates, switches, filters, and load balances monitoring traffic. Thanks to the highest density of 10G ports, Director xStream empowers the NOC (News - Alert) to share a pool of monitoring tools across a large number of network links. The iLink Agg xStream 4.0 Monitoring Link Aggregator has the ability to combine traffic from as many as 20 network links or Span ports and sends it to four monitoring tools. It automatically performs all data-rate and media-type conversions, enabling 10G traffic to be sent to 1G appliances, and 1G traffic to 10G tools – protecting a company's security appliance investment

"Our new platform delivers 'three-click-manageability,'" said Sharon Besser (News - Alert), Net Optics vice president of Technology, in a statement. "That's because xStream 4.0 makes it as easy as one-two-three to achieve quick link aggregation, network packet brokering and advanced load balancing. We challenged ourselves to redefine total visibility and control and create a new model for network monitoring."

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