* ClearSight Networks’ Packet Generator
Network analysis tool provider ClearSight Networks this week is set to ship a product designed to help network managers test their nets and measure their performance potential under heavy loads.
ClearSight Packet Generator is software loaded onto a Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP laptop that lets network managers simulate network traffic and get an idea of how the network would behave under certain conditions. The software can work with ClearSight Analyzer software or independently to send packets over a network and test how well the network responds.
With Packet Generator, the packet size and content of a single packet can be set and the packet sent repeatedly at a specified rate. Also, ClearSight says, the transmission rate can be set in terms of the packet interval or network utilization.
The product helps network engineers determine how changes in traffic load, network design or end-user demands will affect overall performance, according to one user.
Matt Holbert, principal technologist for Network Government Services, in Herndon, Va. (with a data center in San Diego at which Holbert works), says he started using Packet Generator about a month ago to test the affect of different traffic loads on the company’s production network. The firm helps customers such as the Department of Defense and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives transform the organizations’ networks into secure and easily managed systems.
“We were looking to be able to model real-world network traffic in a lab environment that mimics our production environment to test performance,” he says. “Basically you do a capture and retransmit the traffic, and it does it at a reasonable price.”
ClearSight competes with the likes of Spirent and Ixia in terms of simulate packet generation and traffic analysis. But ClearSight CEO and Chairman Bill Berkman says his company provides the technology for less cash.
“The price is less because ultimately we don’t target equipment manufacturers or carriers like some of our competition. Our customer is the network manager in an enterprise company,” Berkman says.
ClearSight Packet Analyzer is available now and costs just under $2,000.
