FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 13, 2004
Network Instruments, LLC
8800 West Highway Seven, Fourth Floor
Minneapolis, MN 55426 USA
Network Instruments Offers Faster, Deeper Network Analysis and Centralised Probe Management
Observer® 10 Reduces Network Downtime by Offering Innovative Remote Expert Analysis,VLAN Statistics,Wireless Security and
Performance Measures, Expanded Data-Mining, and Improved Probe Management
13 September 2004 – London, UK – Network Instruments, the industry leading developer of distributed, user-friendly, and affordable network management,
analysis and troubleshooting solutions, today released Observer 10 – a major version upgrade for the award-winning Observer product line. Built on
Network Instruments Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA™) architecture, Observer 10 delivers real-time Expert Analysis on remote networks,VLAN
Analysis, and over 50 new wireless Expert Conditions.These new features provide IT Administrators with a comprehensive solution for in-depth network
analysis to ensure network availability.
Observer presents greater capabilities for remote network monitoring through real-time remote Expert Analysis.With the new Advanced Expert Probe,
all Expert analysis and Expert processing is completed locally at the probe. Only the results (i.e. updated screens) are transferred to the local console,
greatly reducing network traffic.Remote issues can be reviewed and responded to in real-time, reducing network downtime at remote network
locations.
To help maintain a healthy VLAN and measure WLAN security and performance, Observer 10 brings real-time VLAN Analysis and over 50 new wireless
Expert Conditions. IT Administrators can view virtual network data independently or in aggregate with a new VLAN statistical display.VLAN-specific
metrics allow IT Administrators to immediately determine if their VLANs are overloaded and verify setups. Network Instruments continues to expand on
support for 802.11a/b/g, with new Expert Conditions such as access point encryption disabled/enabled measures, station overload indicators and
authentication/deauthentication rates.
“As organisations implement WLANs, IT Administrators need robust tools to monitor and maintain their wireless networks,” said Douglas Smith,
president of Network Instruments.“With Observer 10,we paid special attention to wireless, adding a considerable amount of new wireless Expert
Conditions. It’s easy to set up Observer to instantly notify IT managers if WLAN thresholds are broken, when unauthorised access points are recognised, or
signal strength and quality become an issue. As always, Observer works for both wired and wireless. IT Administrators need only one network analyser to
keep tabs on all their network topologies.”
Network Instruments also introduces a new Authentication Server for Probes, offering centralised management of probe users and user passwords.
Developed for large-scale, multi-network enterprises, the new Network Instruments Authentication Server (NIAS™) makes authenticating probes safe,
secure, and simple. It is ideal for enterprise organisations required to frequently change user names and passwords to comply with network security
regulations.
Additional features for Observer 10 include:
• Expanded Data Mining -- For data-heavy organisations, Observer 10 adds new features for forensic data mining. By adding new
functionality to filtering, IT Administrators can now easily search through large volumes of captured or stored data for a quicker
breakdown of information.
• Ready-Made Reports -- For proactive network management, Observer 10 introduces Ready-Made Reports, with more than 20
templates of the most commonly requested network statistics to offer instant snapshots of network health. IT Administrators can also
specify time intervals (i.e. last week, yesterday, today, and more) to easily review Network Trending information.
• WAN Probe Now Supports RMON -- Network Instruments has created an open-standards RMON-like approach to monitoring WAN
traffic fully supporting RMON1, RMON2 and HCRMON MIBs.
“Observer 10 is a major new version for us with a myriad of new features driven by customer requests and industry-shifts,” said Roman Oliynyk, CEO of
Network Instruments.“For example, our large enterprise clients deploy hundreds of our Probes throughout their organisation to keep an eye on their
remote networks from one central location.With Observer 10 we also introduced the new Network Instruments Authentication Server, which provides a
quick way to manage multiple probe user names and passwords from one central location.Many organisations have security policies which require
passwords to be changed periodically - the NIAS makes this effortless.”
CheckFree Corporation, America’s leading provider of financial electronic commerce solutions, is a long-time Observer user and a member of the Network
Instruments Beta Testing Program. Bryan A. Larrieu, CheckFree’s vice-president of voice & data communication and information security, is pleased with
the new reporting options found in Observer 10.
“Our company is focused on metrics and we depend on solutions that are fully scalable and serve our large volume needs,” said Larrieu.“In Observer 10,
I particularly like the additions for reporting and data-mining.At CheckFree,we constantly add new forms of connectivity and new applications to our
environment.With version 10, I can easily capture data and distribute reports on Top Talkers or Protocol Distribution without having to analyse
thousands of conversations inside a packet capture.We also analyse large amounts of captured data and utilise Observer’s ability to buffer and stream
hundreds of 60MB files. Observer 10 offers enhancements for data-mining such as pre-filtering making sorting through the large amounts of data much
easier.”
Observer 10, NIAS, the Advanced Expert Probe and the WAN Probe with RMON support are ready to ship immediately. Pricing for Observer, Expert
Observer and Observer Suite remain the same. Observer begins at £995, Expert Observer is £2,895 and Observer Suite is still £3,995.The Advanced Expert
Probe is licensed separately at £2,895.The new Network Instruments Authentication Server for centralised probe management is sold individually at
£1,500. Hardware WAN Probe Appliances with RMON support include all necessary software and hardware. Pricing for the WAN Probe Appliance begins
at £5995.00.More information about Observer 10, the Advanced Expert Probe, NIAS, and WAN RMON are available at www.networkinstruments.co.uk.
About Network Instruments
Network Instruments is the industry leading developer of distributed, user-friendly, and affordable network management, analysis and troubleshooting
solutions.The award-winning Observer family of products combines a comprehensive management and analysis console with high-performance remote
Probes to provide integrated monitoring and management for the entire network (LAN, 802.11 a/b/g, Gigabit,WAN). All Network Instruments products
are designed utilising our Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA) architecture.With NI-DNA, the Observer solution set simplifies network troubleshooting
and management, optimises network and application performance and scales to meet the needs of any organisation. Founded in 1994,
Network Instruments is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with offices in London, Paris, and throughout the USA with distributors in 50
countries.More information about the company, products, innovation, technology, NI-DNA, becoming a partner and NI University can be found at
www.networkinstruments.co.uk.
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