Network Instruments Continues to Lead Market with Providing Analysis Tools for Switched Environments.MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 1999-- New Release Includes Internet Observer Mode, New Options for SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) A widely used network monitoring and control protocol. Data are passed from SNMP agents, which are hardware and/or software processes reporting activity in each network device (hub, router, bridge, etc. Switch Management and RMON (Remote MONitoring) Enhancements to the management information base (MIB) structure used by the simple network management protocol (SNMP). In 1991, RMON added comprehensive network monitoring capabilities. Triggers and Alarms Network Instruments Network Instruments develops software and hardware solutions for analyzing and managing network and application performance, such as network analyzers. They were founded in 1994, and are headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. , LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control Monday announced the release of Observer(R) 6.1, a robust, low-cost protocol analyzer See network 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 Men called Douglas Smith include:
"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 See SNMP. SMNP - Do you mean "SNMP"? If not, please tell me. 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 Inserted into. See embedded system. RMON (requires the RMON Extension for Distributed Observer); and 3) SNMP console monitoring functionality for switches with embedded SNMP agents (networking) SNMP agent - A software process that responds to queries using the Simple Network Management Protocol to provide status and statistics about a network node. (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 See Web 2.0 and Internet2. 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 (networking) heterogeneous network - A network running multiple network layer protocols such as DECnet, IP, IPX, XNS. 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 An open standard for instant messaging (IM). There are tens of thousands of Jabber servers on the Internet, most of which are privately run within a company or college campus. There are also hundreds of public Jabber servers that any user can register with, Google Talk being the largest. , the total data throughput of the switch, and more. Observer offers multiple modes for switched environments, and all modes except Packet Capture display data by port. These modes include Internet Observer, Trending, Packet Capture, Bandwidth Utilization, Utilization History, Top Talkers, Size Distribution Statistics, Errors-by-Station, Protocol Distribution, IPSubProtocols, IPXSubProtocols, Triggers and Alarms, and Discover Network Names. Each mode offers specific switch port information. By allowing network administrators to keep track of many network monitoring The term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing systems and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages via email, pager or other alarms. conditions, switches and segments concurrently, this enhanced multiple-mode interface facilitates troubleshooting hard-to-diagnose, intermittent problems in both a shared and switched environment. Observer also supports auto creation of filters and auto capture from any mode, thereby giving network administrators a more comprehensive, easy-to-use management tool. Observer has Layer 3 reporting capabilities, showing true Internet usage by IP address. E-mail and pager notification alarms in Observer ease network administration and troubleshooting. About Observer The Observer protocol analyzer is the most comprehensive, low-cost protocol analyzer available. Observer is a 32-bit PC application for Windows 95/98/NT Refers to all 32-bit versions of Windows prior to Windows 2000. It implies Windows ME and Windows 2000. It specifically excludes Windows 3.x. See Windows. environments. It offers a powerful range of analysis reports and diagnostics tools to the network user, yet is simple to use. And, because Observer does not require special equipment, it is the most affordable protocol analyzer on the market. In addition, with support for multiple protocols over Ethernet, Token-Ring, and FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) Often pronounced "fiddy," it was a LAN and MAN access method that had its heyday in the mid-1990s. FDDI was an ANSI standard token passing network that transmitted 100 Mbps over optical fiber up to 10 kilometers. LANs, administrators can use Observer on any platform. Observer's distributed architecture enables remote diagnosis on multi-segment LANs as well. Pricing and Availability Observer 6.1 is priced at $995. The SNMP Extensions is priced at $495 and the RMON Extension is $495. These new products will be available May 11, 1999. Distributed Observer is priced at $1,290 for one local and one remote Probe; additional Probes are priced at $295 per Probe. The Observer Suite, which includes Expert, Web, SNMP, and RMON Extensions, is priced at $2,995. Observer 6.1 is available direct from Network Instruments or through its authorized au·thor·ize tr.v. au·thor·ized, au·thor·iz·ing, au·thor·iz·es 1. To grant authority or power to. 2. To give permission for; sanction: dealers and distributors. About Network Instruments Network Instruments is a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. based in Minneapolis, Minnesota “Minneapolis” redirects here. For other uses, see Minneapolis (disambiguation). Minneapolis (pronounced IPA: /ˌmɪniˈæpəlɪs/) is the largest city in the U.S. , with a European sales office in the UK and distributors in 30 countries. Information on the company and its products can be obtained by calling 612/932-9899 or by visiting the company's web site at http://www.networkinstruments.com. |
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