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NetScout Addresses Application Blind Spots

NetScout Systems Inc, a provider of enterprise-wide network and application performance management solutions, announced performance management for applications in wide area networks where Virtual Private Network (VPN) services are utilized to optimize security and performance. The nGenius VPN Site Monitoring and Reporting capability, delivered as an enhancement to NetScout's nGenius Performance Management Solution, allows IT managers to view and manage the resource and performance requirements of business applications in VPN environments. Without this visibility, IT managers are blinded in their ability to identify business and non-business application traffic, troubleshoot slowdowns, or generate application-level activity reports for remote locations.

According to Infonetics Research, end-user demand for VPN services is skyrocketing and the market is expected to reach $30.1 billion worldwide, by 2008. Companies of all sizes are investing in VPNs, which facilitate the creation of "virtual tunnels" within a corporate network or in carrier backbones. The technology allows companies to take advantage of lower cost access routes such as the Internet while adding a layer of protection against unauthorized sight or usage of business traffic. After being tunneled, individual application streams are hidden. In addition, both IPSec and MPLS- based VPNs may employ QoS services to maximize application responsiveness.

"IPSec VPN and hybrid MPLS/VPN solutions are becoming prevalent in the WAN," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for Infonetics Research. "The challenge is their interference with the equally important goal of managing capacity according to business requirements. NetScout is addressing this market head-on for its customers by restoring application visibility, which in turn enables quicker adoption of security and efficiency technologies."

To lower WAN costs and improve bandwidth for business applications, a leading U.S. retailer implemented VPNs between its North American headquarters and its operations in Asia. Although cost and performance improvements were achieved, the IT staff found that they had lost their ability to track individual applications, understand bandwidth consumption and perform in-depth troubleshooting. As a result, day-to-day service assurance and traffic engineering became much more challenging. Using the nGenius Solution, the retailer was able to restore valuable visibility into applications for both planning and troubleshooting, as well as perform packet capture and decode for rapid resolution of troubles reported by users at the remote side of the VPNs. The company is now meeting its goal of reduced expenses for WAN services using lower cost VPN connections, while simultaneously managing IT resources according to business priorities.

The nGenius VPN Site Monitoring and Reporting provides:

Complete, unified insight into the types of applications being delivered across the IPSec and MPLS-based VPNs.
Validation of appropriate prioritization schemes, individual application flows and their respective QoS levels in context with remote site details.
Unified real-time network and application monitoring, flexible newspaper-style reporting and in-depth packet analysis -- all delivered seamlessly within a single solution for more effective IT planning and reduced mean-time-to-repair (MTTR) of service slowdowns.
Physical and logical monitoring of the network and its applications for individual, grouped and total application volumes and responsiveness on the network.

"With the nGenius Solution, enterprises will improve the deployment of VPNs as a result of more comprehensive management information," said Michael Szabados, senior vice president of product operations for NetScout Systems. "Our CDM technology allows performance metrics from across the enterprise, regardless of infrastructure technologies present, to be integrated within a single view. This unified view of performance helps our customers manage by business priority while maximizing IT investments."