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NETSCOUT Introduces Next-Generation Network Performance Management Appliance

June 12, 2006

The nGenius Application Fabric Monitor Combines Benefits of Monitoring and Analysis with Extended Packet Capture and Decode in High-Performance Design

WESTFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2006-- NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT), a leading provider of application and network performance management solutions, today introduced the nGenius(R) Application Fabric Monitor, the industry's first performance management appliance to simultaneously collect performance metrics for real-time and historical analysis and record full packet streams for forensic analysis. The new product provides the network-based application visibility that enterprises need to proactively identify and resolve performance problems and assure business service reliability in an increasingly complex and high speed network environment.

The nGenius Application Fabric Monitor's combination of distributed packet recording, analysis and flow-based monitoring is another step to meet the challenge of managing the 'Application Fabric' underlying enterprise IT services. The Application Fabric refers to the interconnected, virtualized resource infrastructure used to deliver the applications that underpin business processes. In such complex environments, IT operations require solutions that can provide automated analysis of application performance from a network vantage point with deep packet-level visibility and analysis when necessary.

One of the limitations of traditional statistical monitoring approaches is their inability to retain all the packet details underlying performance problems, especially when they are intermittent. Newer devices for continuous capture of packet streams have emerged, but lack the cross-enterprise, high-level views necessary for analyzing and correlating service degradations. The nGenius Application Fabric Monitor overcomes these handicaps by combining both functions into a single appliance specially designed to deliver high-performance and high-capacity packet recording with simultaneous enterprise-wide network-based application flow monitoring.

"While packet-level recording is necessary for troubleshooting certain severe performance problems, medium and large enterprises will struggle to effectively manage application performance working solely from the bottom-up with packet decodes. Manually digging through packets for every issue just isn't scalable for companies with large mission-critical networks," said Rich Ptak, Partner and Principal Analyst at analyst firm Ptak Noel & Associates. "NetScout's combination of packet recording and decodes with monitoring and automated analysis for key network links or aggregation points demonstrates a clear understanding of the operational realities facing enterprise IT groups."

The new architecture of the nGenius Application Fabric Monitor is another example of NetScout's leadership in innovation for performance management. It uses on-board processing to avoid inefficient client-based analysis mechanisms that require massive recorded packet streams to be transferred over the network, slowing problem resolution times and further burdening network resources. Additionally, its processing architecture accommodates simultaneous recording of traffic flows with always-on real-time monitoring of critical performance metrics. Competitors either require multiple devices to accomplish both functions, use multiple steps to record all the data and then analyze it, taxing the system and providing non-real-time statistics, or must turn off either recording or monitoring functionalities while the other is engaged.

"This product is another fundamental element in NetScout's Application Fabric Performance Management strategy, providing unparalleled granular visibility into application performance from our crucial network vantage point," said Michael Szabados, senior vice president of product operations for NetScout. "We're meeting our customers' need for combined recording and performance monitoring with a leading-edge device that can meet today's demands and lays the groundwork for monitoring new application types and architectures."

NetScout architected the new product from the ground up to meet the evolving demands for enterprise-class performance management. To ensure high performance and availability, it features dual CPUs, RAID-5 storage with hot-swappable disk drives, separate dual disk drives for the operating system and redundant hot-swappable power supplies.

The nGenius Application Fabric Monitor

  • Captures continuous packet streams on the network, maintaining an audit trail for forensic analysis and incident reconstruction, using technology now fielded in NetScout's nGenius Flow Recorder;
  • Combines precision data mining, intuitive graphical views, a powerful decode engine and sub-second granularity for pinpointing difficult, subtle, or intermittent network and application problems;
  • Collects and maps traffic flow statistics from Gigabit Ethernet links, virtual circuits, and remote sites, providing business-relevant application-level information for real-time troubleshooting and historical reporting, based on NetScout's Common Data Model (CDM) technology from the nGenius Probe family;
  • Delivers an integrated solution for automatically monitoring business-relevant information, troubleshooting with drill-downs in High Definition (using 1-minute measurements with 1-second peak values) to all applications, hosts, and conversations, and when necessary for particularly difficult issues or to research problems reported after they occur, to a trace file of all packets from the recent past;
  • Supports a variety of alerting mechanisms for the nGenius Solution including nGenius Analytics intelligent alerts based on anomalous network activity, and for third-party enterprise or network management systems; and
  • Allows network organizations to reduce the total cost of ownership by reducing the number of in-line devices needed for monitoring and recording, based on lower maintenance and staff training costs.

Availability, Configuration & Pricing

The nGenius Application Fabric Monitor is now available in two configurations with five or eight terabytes of on-board storage. Pricing begins at $79,995.

About NetScout Systems

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT) is a market leader and pioneer of integrated application and network performance management products and solutions that help IT organizations assure critical business services across the enterprise. More than 3000 leading companies and government organizations worldwide have deployed NetScout's nGenius(R) Performance Management System to 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.

NetScout and the NetScout logo, nGenius, and Quantiva are registered trademarks of NetScout Systems, Inc. The CDM logo, MasterCare, Progressive Analytics and the MasterCare logo, are trademarks of NetScout Systems, Inc. Other brands, product names and trademarks are property of their respective owners. NetScout reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to make changes at any time in its technical information and specifications, and service and support programs.

CONTACT: NetScout Systems, Inc.
Dylan Locsin, 978-614-4113
locsind@netscout.com
or
Davies Murphy Group
Brian Alberti, 781-418-2403
netscout@daviesmurphy.com
www.netscout.com

SOURCE: NetScout Systems, Inc.

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