NETSCOUT Unveils New Performance And Reporting Capabilities For Storage Area Networks

12 May 2003

New Views into Storage Traffic Flows Extend NetScout's Lead in Storage Network Performance Management

WESTFORD, Mass., May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NetScout Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTCT), a leading provider of enterprise-wide network performance management solutions, today unveiled new integrated performance monitoring and reporting capabilities for networked storage. Delivered as an enhancement to NetScout's nGenius(R) Performance Management System, the new capabilities comprise an expanded set of real time and historical statistics on the performance of storage traffic traversing the LAN, WAN and storage networks within the enterprise. Filling a critical gap in IT's SAN management tool set, the NetScout solution offers detailed views of usage patterns, traffic details, and utilization trends that help large enterprises minimize disruptions due to operational interoperability issues and incomplete bandwidth planning as they migrate to networked storage.

nGenius Performance Manager, deployed in conjunction with NetScout's Fibre Channel and other probes across the network, collects and displays detailed information on storage traffic between "initiators" (servers), and "targets" (disk arrays) and their logical subdivisions ("LUNs"). With the nGenius solution, IT managers can:

    -- Understand how much of each segment is consumed, by whom, when and for
       what purpose, to optimize storage network performance--with real-time
       and historical views.
    -- Gain insight into SAN traffic volumes and errors before they impact
       users--with proactive alarming.
    -- Enhance troubleshooting of complex packet level problems, such as
       interoperability--with packet capture and decode.
    -- Perform accurate base-lining and bandwidth planning to better leverage
       capital expenditures on storage networking infrastructure--with
       historical trending reports.

In addition, users can alternate seamlessly between real-time and historical views of the same information to investigate trends and anomalies in an instant. This time-saving feature eliminates the labor- intensive steps of launching separate tools and reconciling disparate information.

"NetScout offers a unique solution that complements and enhances any of the storage network management solutions that are available today," said Nancy Marrone of Enterprise Storage Group. "NetScout has a long history of providing in-depth network performance analysis, reporting and problem resolution solutions for the LAN and WAN markets, and they are now bringing that expertise to the SAN market. As SANs increase in size and complexity, certain business risks can evolve if their performance degrades. NetScout's solutions enable customers to control network performance in order to minimize any potential risks. No other vendor has that capability today."

    New Features include:
    -- Traffic statistics of symptoms that may cause performance degradation
       including Frame Busy and Rejects, Port Busy and Rejects, Zero Credit
       Events and Initializations.
    -- New Fibre Channel traffic views that detail Fibre Channel Protocol
       (FCP), Extended Link Services (ELS) and Basic Link Services activity.
    -- Detailed views of Upper Layer protocol session activity including SCSI
       Initiator to Target/LUN conversations for such exchanges as SCSI reads
       and writes in FCP or Login traffic for ELS.
    -- Daily, weekly and monthly automated nGenius NewsPaper Reports for
       enterprise-wide or SAN focused audiences to understand the trends in
       the SAN.

"We are committed to leading the development of technology and best practices needed for managing storage network performance," said Michael Szabados, senior vice president of product operations for NetScout Systems. "Our product innovations are designed for large enterprises now making the transition to networked storage. With our Fibre Channel extensions, and new support for iSCSI, our enterprise-wide network performance management solution is now seamlessly extended to storage networks."

Pricing and Availability

nGenius Fibre Channel probes are shipping now in 1-port, 2-port and 4-port configurations starting at $19,995. The new enhancements are available in nGenius Performance Manager 1.4 at no additional charge. For additional product or ordering information about nGenius solutions, call NetScout Systems at 1-800-657-7666 or visit our Website http://www.netscout.com.

About NetScout Systems, Inc.

NetScout Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTCT) is a market leader and pioneer of integrated network performance management products that unify performance across the enterprise. NetScout's nGenius(R) Performance Management System is helping more than 3000 leading companies increase their return on infrastructure investments by optimizing the performance of networks and applications according to business priorities. NetScout is headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts and has offices worldwide. Further information is available at http://www.netscout.com.

All rights reserved worldwide. NetScout, nGenius, and the NetScout logo are registered trademarks of NetScout Systems, Inc. ART MIB, Because the network is the business and CDM Technology are trademarks of NetScout Systems, Inc. NetScout reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to make changes at any time in its technical information, specifications, and service and support programs.

     Peggy Flynn
     NetScout Systems
     (978) 614-4162
     flynnp@netscout.com

     Dawn Sullivan or Tim King
     Schwartz Communications, Inc.
     (781) 684-0770
     netscout@schwartz-pr.com

SOURCE NetScout Systems, Inc.