Vendor Profile - Founded in 1997 by President and CEO Alastair Hartrup, Network Critical is a UK-based company that has grown into a global leader, developing premier network access solutions for the enterprise security and network management marketplace. A channel-friendly company, Network Critical operations continue to grow world-wide, with new offices in Buffalo, New York and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Network Critical provides proper enterprise access wherever monitoring is critical—maximizing the value of customer monitoring investments, and giving customers the assurance that traffic is always seen and always available.
Anne McKenna is the Marketing Manager for Network Critical.
Vendor Profile - Net Optics is the global leader in building monitoring access devices for use with security and network management tools across the entire network. Their family of taps and monitoring filter devices enables companies to easily deploy the latest intrusion detection and prevention systems, protocol analyzers, forensics appliances and network probes before a threat or network issue arises.
Dan McCarthy is the Reseller Channel Manager of Net Optics.
Executive Profile - Bob Shaw is the President and CEO of Net Optics. Since March of 2001, Bob has been implementing the company vision and strategy, motivating the executive team to stay focused on helping Net Optics customers win in their markets. Under his leadership, Net Optics has achieved consistent double-digit growth, launching more than 25 new products, acquiring over 700 new customers, and expanding Net Optics' global presence.
Bob brings both Fortune 200 management and start-up experience to Net Optics. Prior to joining Net Optics, Bob Shaw was Sr. Vice President of Sales for Noosh, a market leader in collaborative enterprise communication for the Fortune 500. In addition, Bob has held Senior Vice President leadership positions within sales, marketing, and operations for the $1 billion business unit at RR Donnelley & Sons Company. During his years at Donnelley, he also served as a general manager at one of their state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, where he guided 300 employees to reach new performance benchmarks for the company. Bob holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Geneva College in Pennsylvania.
Q: Bob, thank you for spending time with me today and for being the first CEO to be interviewed for LoveMyTool’s “Executive Corner.” I have been looking forward to this opportunity to speak with you and learn more about your thoughts regarding the test access space. First of all, tell our readers a little about Net Optics, your history, your products, and your customers.
A: Thank you, Denny. First I want to say that I really respect the educational approach you’ve taken with your portal. It’s a great asset for the industry, which Net Optics has been part of for 12 years now. More than 6,000 customers have deployed Net Optics products, and continue to do so. With a “Customer First!” attitude, our mission is helping network and security professionals manage the health and integrity of their networks more efficiently. We do this by providing products that enable them to “Tap into the Network” for 100 percent visibility of the network traffic, using the monitoring, security, and forensics tools of their choice. The simple fiber and copper test access points, or Taps, that we started with have evolved into a complete family of passive access products that extend from the network’s edge to its core. It has been fun building this market space from something that really didn’t exist at all into a successful and growing business.
Vendor Profile - Founded in 1997 by President and CEO Alastair Hartrup, Network Critical is a UK-based company that has grown into a global leader, developing premier network access solutions for the enterprise security and network management marketplace. A channel-friendly company, Network Critical operations continue to grow world-wide, with new offices in Buffalo, New York and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Network Critical provides proper enterprise access wherever monitoring is critical—maximizing the value of customer monitoring investments, and giving customers the assurance that traffic is always seen and always available.
Chris Bihary is the Managing Director of Americas for Network Critical.
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Vendor Profile - Net Optics is the global leader in building monitoring access devices for use with security and network management tools across the entire network. Their family of taps and monitoring filter devices enables companies to easily deploy the latest intrusion detection and prevention systems, protocol analyzers, forensics appliances and network probes before a threat or network issue arises.
Trent Fierro is the Marketing Manager of Net Optics.
The Challenge A properly architected environment must include the ability to consolidate necessary monitoring and security tools and forensic analysis tools for today’s network concerns with the assurance of future flexibility.
The Solution
A Link Aggregator that provides copper and fiber network connectivity and the flexibility needed by multiple IT groups to access traffic of interest.
The Benefits
Provides the ability to monitor multiple network links and copy all data to multiple monitor ports
Reduces operational costs by improving monitoring tool efficiency
Enables enhancement of security and network operations
Increases responsiveness by providing easy access from a consolidated, single 1U-high device
Affords greater access to multiple points within a mesh environment
Copper and Fiber (SFP) monitoring port flexibility
Use either copper or fiber monitoring tools
100% full-duplex visibility without data interference
Passive, stealth operation
Introduction
Monitoring a Converged Network to fully deliver on the promise of a secure and reliable network, many organizations are turning to monitoring tool aggregation devices. It proves to be a powerful solution that offers tremendous return on investment for consolidating the usability of monitoring tools within networks. Link Aggregation or Link Aggregators combine multiple in-line full duplex data streams into one single stream that is copied to multiple monitoring ports. The connected monitoring tools receive the entire full duplex conversation enabling 100% visibility across important links in the architecture.
“Gigamon was founded by industry veterans and putting customer first has always been their strength. They clearly have been listening to our suggestions. By improving the functionalities to provide four 10 Gig ports and four hot swappable slots, the GigaVUE 420 is a much more flexible and expandable solution. In fact, with four GigaTAP modules, we can now tap eight full duplex Gigabit links in a 1U chassis ... Our monitoring need at Syracuse University is a constant moving target and we are known to be very aggressive in pushing our vendors. Gigamon has listened and delivered. Nice!”
-- Bruce Boardman, Network Engineer, Syracuse University
Customer Profile - Before joining the IT team full time at Syracuse University, Bruce was best known as the Executive Editor of Network Computing, a CMP Media publication. Bruce's achievement and recognition in the networking industry can be best described by his peers.
“I have known Bruce professionally for over 10 years. His detailed, in-depth knowledge of networking technologies and products surpasses that of most industry professionals. His exceptional communications skills set him apart in an industry where most people with his depth of knowledge simply cannot clearly convey their knowledge to others.”
-- Rick Sturm, President, Enterprise Management Associates
“Bruce has an amazing amount of technical experience in IT networking and he brings an almost fanatical outlook to network computing as an endeavor and topic. His focus is always to meet the needs of the readers while he puts products through the paces. I consider his reviews to be critical reference for purchases and evaluations. He is respected among his peers due to his work in the field.”
-- Steve Delahunty, Contributing Editor, CMP Media
Vendor Profile - Gigamon Systems is the provider of GigaVUE 420, the next generation Data Access Switch that addresses connectivity issues related to monitoring business-critical, diverse and high bandwidth networks. By filtering, aggregating, and multicasting critical data to support multiple network monitoring tools, GigaVUE significantly reduces capital and operating expenditures while improving network uptime by enabling far more flexible network access for security, monitoring, and troubleshooting with fewer and less intrusive tools.
Gigamon Announces Second Act, the GigaVUE 420
Gigamon Systems continues its growth by responding to customer requests and announces the GigaVUE 420. Gigamon has been shipping products for over two years and its out-of-band data access solution, supporting all data rate and media choices including 10-Gigabit, remains the market leader in providing secure and customized access for network management tools. The Gigamon technology team, headed by CTO Patrick Leong, has come up with a significant upgrade to the GigaVUE platform with the new GigaVUE 420, which stands for “4” 10-Gigabit ports and “20” Gigabit ports with four hot-swappable slots.
Editor Profile - Tim O’Neill is an independent technology consultant. He has over 30 years experience working in the WAN, Analog, ISDN, ATM and LAN test market. Tim has worked with companies like Navtel, Network General, Ganymede and ClearSight Networks and is now helping companies get lab recognition and technology verification. Tim is also the Chief Contributing Editor for LoveMyTool.com, a website designed to help network managers gain access to valuable information and real solution stories from other customers. Tim is a patent holding, published and degreed engineer, who has seen this technology grow from Teletype (current loop) data analysis to today’s 10 Gigabit LAN’s focused on business applications with heavy compliance demands. Tim can be reached at oldcommguy (at) bellsouth (dot) net.
Is RSPAN something one should be using? Or is it something to be avoided?
Recently I wrote an article about SPAN that details the overall issues with using SPAN ports as the monitoring data access point, providing evidence that SPAN access for monitoring and analysis is not in the best interest of network managers who need to fully understand their networks.
The list of problems with using SPAN ports for network monitoring and analysis are many and in particular, I pointed out that SPAN ports will not meet the demands of compliance requirements for high fidelity data access nor for analysis of synchronized traffic such as VoIP.
So you should not be surprised when I tell you that RSPAN is even a bigger potential mess and that its usage is not only not recommended but is in fact prohibited altogether in many high-end customer sites!
Vendor Profile - Trent Fierro is the Marketing Manager of Net Optics. Net Optics is the leader in innovative passive in-line devices for network security, traffic analysis, and IT monitoring solutions. Our products are used to access and monitor networks by enterprises, service providers, and government organizations globally. Leading vendors of protocol analyzers, RMON probes and IPS appliances have chosen Net Optics products to sit in the networks of their customers—from T1 Wan to 10 Gigabit links.
Introduction
The growth of the Internet is driving the need for global networks to connect businesses, organizations, and individuals together. The need to control and protect the flow of information has dramatically increased as well. Malicious and unpredictable attacks have become commonplace and have blurred the lines of responsibility between IT network and security organizations. As a result, both groups often deploy separate tools and monitoring devices on the same important, business-critical network links.
Firewalls are security control points that can be either standalone devices or embedded in network routing equipment. Firewalls operate by applying a set of rules whereby packets are checked as they pass through the network. Since the networking team usually manages firewalls, the security team is often challenged in its efforts to stay abreast of changes to the network and the rules being applied. As threats and viruses became more prevalent and transparency became an issue, the need for more sophisticated and targeted security devices conflicted with the analysis equipment used by the network team.
Intrusion-prevention system (IPS) appliances were developed to provide security teams with a device that could be placed in the direct flow of traffic within network links. An IPS not only notified network security administrators of suspicious activity, but could also respond to that activity by manipulating or blocking traffic. These devices were an improvement over firewall security measures because the IPS appliances allowed security managers to make real-time decisions based on application content rather than by IP address or port. Furthermore, most IPS appliances allow physical layer protocols and encrypted traffic to be monitored.
The Challenge
Regardless of the type of monitoring device being placed in-line within a network link both the network and security teams encounter similar issues. Network outages and downtime are required to install a monitoring device, and if it fails or needs to be moved, the physical stream is once again interrupted. For most, introducing a recognized, potential point of failure into the network is a truly unacceptable solution.
Creating a solution that addresses the concerns and connectivity issues experienced by both the network and security teams within an organization has become increasingly critical.
Vendor Profile - Gigamon Systems is the provider of GigaVUE-MP, the next generation Data Access Switch that addresses connectivity issues related to monitoring business-critical, diverse and high bandwidth networks. By filtering, aggregating, and multicasting critical data to support multiple network monitoring tools, GigaVUE-MP significantly reduces capital and operating expenditures while improving network uptime by enabling far more flexible network access for security, monitoring, and troubleshooting with fewer and less intrusive tools.
Vendor Profile - Founded in 1997 by President and CEO Alastair Hartrup, Network Critical is a UK-based company that has grown into a global leader, developing premier network access solutions for the enterprise security and network management marketplace. A channel-friendly company, Network Critical operations continue to grow world-wide, with new offices in Buffalo, New York and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Network Critical provides proper enterprise access wherever monitoring is critical—maximizing the value of customer monitoring investments, and giving customers the assurance that traffic is always seen and always available. Network Critical offers smarter ways to access the enterprise, through dedicated, carrier class chassis-based TAP systems with features to support today’s monitoring and traffic viewing needs. ***ACCESS – Capture – Analyze***
Vendor Profile - Founded in 1997 by President and CEO Alastair Hartrup, Network Critical is a UK-based company that has grown into a global leader, developing premier network access solutions for the enterprise security and network management marketplace. A channel-friendly company, Network Critical operations continue to grow world-wide, with new offices in Buffalo, New York and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Network Critical provides proper enterprise access wherever monitoring is critical—maximizing the value of customer monitoring investments, and giving customers the assurance that traffic is always seen and always available. 
Customer Profile - Before joining the IT team full time at Syracuse University, Bruce was best known as the Executive Editor of Network Computing, a CMP Media publication. Bruce's achievement and recognition in the networking industry can be best described by his peers.
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