Cymphonix device watches users, traffic, but hits a few bumps

Network Composer's strength lies in monitoring traffic, weaker in security.

Cymphonix's Network Composer DC30X is a security appliance designed to sit quietly between users and the Internet, blocking viruses and spyware, reporting on user and application bandwidth, and shaping traffic. It's intended to let you manage bandwidth to keep downloads from interfering with voice or other critical traffic, as well as give you a sense of what your users are doing on the network.

We tested Network Composer on our production network (see "How we tested Cymphonix") and found Cymphonix still has a number of rough edges to smooth.

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Cymphonix's Network Composer DC30X is a security appliance designed to sit quietly between users and the Internet, blocking viruses and spyware, reporting on user and application bandwidth, and shaping traffic. It's intended to let you manage bandwidth to keep downloads from interfering with voice or other critical traffic, as well as give you a sense of what your users are doing on the network.

We tested Network Composer on our production network (see "How we tested Cymphonix") and found Cymphonix still has a number of rough edges to smooth.

What it is

We unpacked Network Composer and dropped it in front of local and branch users. Installation was simple and quick - the box has a user-side Ethernet port, an Internet-side port, and Ethernet and serial connections for management.

Cymphonix touts Network Composer as a transparent Ethernet bridge (it also acts as a simple router/firewall), but transparent isn't the right adjective. We ran into problems every time we tried to install it in our network, because it doesn't act like a bridge. As Cymphonix was quick to point out, Network Composer is designed for very constrained environments: no dynamic routing, very simple network topologies, mostly Windows and Active Directory users, and a wide-open outgoing firewall policy. We discovered that using Network Composer in other environments will cause network interruption.

Explaining what Network Composer does could take the rest of this review - basically, the product has three broad functions. First, it monitors Internet traffic and reports on network use by application category (for example, HTTP or chat) and by user (users are defined by IP address, media access control address (in very small networks) or Active Directory). Second, it lets you define bandwidth limits and enforce those limits. Third, it has antispyware, URL filtering and antivirus security features.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT NETWORK COMPOSER DC30X Cymphonix

3.5

Price: $3,600; includes 100 user licenses and one year of subscription updates. Additional user licenses available at extra cost. Pros: Provides good network visualization for useers and applications; offers simple bandwidth management with easy configuration; no training is required to master very powerful interface. Cons: More bugs than expected, especially in security features; requires particularly restrictive network topologies; poor logging makes debugging difficult. The breakdown Network visualization 25% 4 Scoring Key: 5: Exceptional 4: Very good 3: Average 2: Below average 1: Subpar or not available Bandwidth management 20% 3.5 Security features 20% 2.5 Management 15% 4 Flexibility/transparency 10% 3 Installation/ease of use 10% 4   TOTAL SCORE 3.5

Click to see: NetResults graphic for Network Composer DC30X