Gigamon Systems
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.
February 13, 2008
Bruce Boardman on Gigamon Systems
“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.
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November 1, 2007
Gigamon Systems @ Interop New York 2007
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October 18, 2007
Ethernet 10/100/1000 Copper Taps, Passive or Active?
This article presents an overview of the various Ethernet 10/100/1000 physical layer technologies for the copper medium. It discusses the pros and cons of active versus passive tapping and why active tapping is preferred for Gigabit Ethernet running over the copper medium. The switch-over behavior of active relay-based tapping is also presented.
Over the past some 25 years, the speed of Ethernet has increased from 10 Mbps in the early 1980’s, to 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet) in the mid-1990’s, to 1000 Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet) in the late 1990’s. We also have 10Gbps Ethernet since the early 2000’s. In summary, technically, there are more challenges to implement a passive copper tap that works at Gigabit Ethernet speed or higher. Using an active relay copper tap is the current best choice, although there may be occasions where the link can be down for 2-3 seconds during a relay switch-over. This has to do with the process of re-establishing link between the end nodes. The tap relay typically re-establishes physical connection within a millisecond or less.
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September 27, 2007
“Aggregation Tap” versus “Tap Aggregation”
To ensure security and compliance, network monitoring has become mission critical for our customers. In particular, for both technical and political reasons, customers prefer that monitoring is to be done non-intrusively, i.e., out-of-band. This requires either SPAN ports or deployment of passive taps, both are useful depending on application.
SPAN port is free, simple and flexible. But taps are more accurate and scalable and in case of “Lawful Monitoring”, i.e., monitoring as a result of legal requirement, it is most likely the only acceptable solution. Unfortunately, tapping is not as simple or flexible as SPAN ports.
In this paper, we discussed a new generation of “Aggregation Tap” as well as Gigamon's revolutionary “Tap Aggregation” data access switch that are designed to restore simplicity and flexibility to monitoring of customer networks.
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August 30, 2007
UC Berkeley on Gigamon Systems
“The Gigamon data access switch has become an indispensable part of our network infrastructure in EECS. Some of my colleagues refer to it as the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of the data monitoring game. It is extremely flexible which is mandatory in our dynamic environment. Our internal network topology changes frequently and our monitoring tools must adapt quickly to these changes without burdening staff.”
-– Fred Archibald, Network Manager, Infrastructure Development and Support Group, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California at Berkeley
Customer Profile - The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) is the largest department within the College of Engineering which itself is one of the top five professional schools and colleges belonging to the 30,000-student University of California at Berkeley. Whether measured by headcount, operational cash flow, or capital investment and expenditures, EECS is comparable in scale to a typical Fortune-5000 corporation and therefore, not surprisingly, has similar networking requirement and infrastructure.
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August 6, 2007
InteropNet Engineers on Gigamon Systems
“By utilising the Gigamon System in the early stages of the InteropNet build-out, we gave the engineering team a powerful tool to implement a filtered instrumentation system throughout the network by multiplexing the numerous data feeds into a variety of vendor tools. This filtering capability enables the tools to see only the data that is relevant to them and resolves all conflicts in gaining data access. This makes it easier for the engineering staff to diagnose issues if and when they occur. Gigamon has become an essential piece of the networking management and instrumentation puzzle.”
-- Glenn Evans, InteropNet Chief Engineer, CMP Technology (San Francisco, CA)
“The Gigamon product provides the InteropNet team with a unique opportunity to peel off key data feeds at critical points of the network without using up large pool of analysis tools. We can shape data streams by application type, like VoIP, video, web and other key attributes. This filtering capability allows us to focus on our specific areas of responsibility without being overwhelmed by the huge amount of data generated at the show. Gigamon’s ‘tool enhancer’ just makes sense in this new era of ever increasing Internet usage and security concern.”
-- Brian Chee, InteropNet Team Lead (VoIP and Video)
When not working on InteropNet, Brian is a full-time researcher at the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology and the Director of the Advanced Network Computing Laboratory (ANCL) of the University of Hawaii. In addition, Brian is a Senior Contributing Editor of the InfoWorld Magazine with ANCL playing host to some of InfoWorld’s big iron reviews.
Customer Profile - Interop is the premier biannual networking mega-event to showcase promising as well as state-of-the-art commercial technology (Las Vegas in the summer and New York in the fall). For more than twenty years, Interop has been the gathering-of-choice for network engineers and CIOs who travel from around the world to witness what works and what doesn't. Interop is unique from other tradeshows in that it is built around InternetNet which is touted as the world's largest temporary enterprise network, allowing vendors to battle test their best-of-breed equipment under live conditions and to demonstrate cross-vendor “interop”erability. In addition, InteropNet is also the triple redundant mission critical production network supporting hundreds of vendor booths and classrooms and wireless Internet access for as many as 25,000 attendees. Customized for each show, InteropNet is built from the ground up by a small team of volunteer engineers in collaboration with a handful of hand selected, innovative vendors who come together twice a year for 10 days to take on the ultimate networking challenge of their life.
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July 23, 2007
National Instruments on Gigamon Systems
“With GigaVUE, we can optimize and extend the power of our network monitoring tools. This unique data access switch helps us set up our tools and get the exact data that we need, all without affecting network performance.”
-- Sohail Bhamani, Senior Network Engineer, National Instruments
Customer Profile - National Instruments is a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation, a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists in industry, government and academia approach measurement and automation. Leveraging PCs and commercial technologies, virtual instrumentation increases productivity and lowers costs for test, control and design applications through easy-to integrate software, such as NI LabVIEW, and modular measurement and control hardware for PXI, PCI, USB and Ethernet. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, National Instruments has more than 4,000 employees and direct operations in nearly 40 countries. For the past seven years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America.
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