Company revamps InfiniStream appliance to make it more accessible, easier to distribute across enterprise nets.
NetScout’s InfiniStream 2900 Series offers customers a lower capacity, compact form-factor appliance to extend deep packet analysis to the network edge.
NetScout Systems Wednesday introduced an appliance series the company says will enable enterprise IT managers to extend deep packet capture capabilities to the edge of the network – closer to the end user, enabling better visibility into application performance.
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NetScout says its nGenius InfiniStream 2900 Series appliance couples the advanced InfiniStream technology the vendor acquired with Network General with a more manageable form-factor and accessible price tag. The appliance captures packets, performs analysis and stores packets for more inspection, but now doesn’t require the same capacity and bandwidth of previous versions, says Steve Shalita, vice president of marketing at NetScout.
“We had the technology, but customers would like to deploy deep packet capture more broadly and closer to the user. To help them do that, we created a smaller, more optimized version of the InfiniStream technology,” Shalita explains.
Now the appliance is sized as a single-rack unit, rather than requiring up to four racks of space, and includes 500 gigabytes of storage capacity. The price point is also down from between $60,000 and $100,000 to less than $20,000. These changes will make it possible for IT managers to install the appliances in branch and remote offices or at the network edge, rather than just in the core, Shalita says. According to NetScout, the nGenius InfiniStream 2900 Series appliance captures packets crossing the network, analyzing, indexing and storing these packets in real-time, with a high degree of accuracy.
“The capacity is driven by how much traffic you are passing through the device and how long you want it captured; those factors will drive the deployments,” he adds.
NGenius InfiniStream 2900 Series appliances are available now in 2-port and 4-port versions, with support for 10/100/1000 copper and SFP-based fiber Gigabit Ethernet. The appliances are also available with Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. Pricing for the nGenius InfiniStream 2900 appliance begins at less than $20,000.
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