Network Instruments Continues to Lead Market with Providing Analysis Tools for Switched Environments

Business Wire, May 10, 1999

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 1999--

New Release Includes Internet Observer Mode, New Options for SNMP

Switch Management and RMON Triggers and Alarms

Network Instruments, LLC Monday announced the release of Observer(R) 6.1, a robust, low-cost protocol analyzer and the first traffic management and troubleshooting tool for switched environments.

Observer 6.1 makes it possible for network administrators to actually monitor switches by utilizing a revolutionary technology that bridges the gap between shared and switched networks.

The Observer 6.1 Suite offers network administrators a complete set of management options with Observer Expert Extension, Observer Web Extension, Observer SNMP and RMON Extensions. The new release now offers an Internet Observer, new options for SNMP switch management, and the addition of RMON triggers and alarms.

"With the release of Observer 6.1, Network Instruments continues to lead the market in offering a feature-rich, cost-effective troubleshooting, management and trending tool," said Douglas Smith, president of Network Instruments.

"Observer 6.1 makes it possible for administrators to address critical issues such as productivity lost to inappropriate Internet usage. In addition, the new technologies offered in this release--such as the extended options for SMNP switch management and the addition of RMON triggers and alarms--creates a greater pool of potential customers for resellers."

Observer 6.1 uses the following three methods for switch management: 1) port-looping with statistical sampling technology, which lets the administrator see all ports on the switch (included in Observer and Distributed Observer); 2) RMON console functionality for switches with embedded RMON (requires the RMON Extension for Distributed Observer); and 3) SNMP console monitoring functionality for switches with embedded SNMP agents (requires the SNMP Extension for Observer).

Additionally, because Observer 6.1 can manage the ports on a switch, it is also possible to use packet capture for any port, or groups of ports without first configuring the switch outside of the Observer environment.

New Internet Observer Mode

Corporations are increasingly concerned over employees wasting valuable time on the Internet and the legal issue of viewing and downloading offensive or discriminatory material. The monitoring of Internet usage has become critical. Yet, Observer 6.1 is the industry's only network protocol analyzer to offer this mode.

The new Internet Observer mode in Observer 6.1 is just one of modes that Observer offers for switched environments. Network administrators can use it to monitor user Internet usage. With Internet Observer mode, administrators can monitor which sites users are visiting and how long they view the site.

Internet Observer can be utilized by both small networks and large corporate networks where many LANs share one Internet connection over a WAN. It has configurations to display usage for all sizes of networks. This makes Internet Observer scalable; it can grow with an organization's network.

New Options for SNMP Switch Management

For switches that include an SNMP agent in the switch hardware, Observer 6.1's SNMP Extension enables the user to query and view any or all SNMP data the switch collects, including traffic and device-specific information.

Observer 6.1 now includes SNMP-based scripting to support a wider range of switch vendors. No other protocol analyzer in the industry today does this. SNMP-based scriptings give customers new options for SNMP based switch looping--Observer 6.1 now supports more switches, including 3Com and Nortel/Bay.

This will allow resellers to introduce the Observer 6.1 product line to a larger group of potential customers. It also means that as the networks of small and large businesses grow and expand, that Observer 6.1 will continue to be useful in a dynamic, ever-changing heterogeneous network computing environment.

The SNMP Extension now also offers a Walker utility for troubleshooting SNMP-managed devices. This, too, will extend Observer 6.1's functionality as a business's network grows and expands.

New RMON Triggers and Alarms

Observer 6.1 also offers an internal RMON Extension to provide RMON1 or RMON2 statistics and capture functions within the hardware of the switch. The new release offers the addition of RMON triggers and alarms. This addition will help administrators with proactive RMON management.

More About How Observer 6.1 Works

For switches that support port mirroring, Observer 6.1 offers port looping, or the ability to have a Probe "loop" through all ports on the switch and collect statistics on the switch as a whole, or port capture.

Network Instruments was the first vendor to introduce port-looping functionality and continues to lead the industry in this area. Port-looping provides a complete view of the switch, including information on which ports are being used and to what extent, the total broadcast and cross-port jabber, the total data throughput of the switch, and more.