Survey Shows Lack of Network Visibility and Network Forensics Are Key Challenges at 10G

WALNUT CREEK, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 8, 2013) - WildPackets, Inc., a leading provider of network and application performance analysis solutions, today released a survey on the state of faster network deployments. The company surveyed more than 100 network engineers and IT directors on their network capacity and performance management, and what problems they faced as they transitioned to faster speed, higher capacity networks like 10G or higher. The survey showed that 92 percent of those surveyed have 10G networks or higher, with network visibility and network forensics being the biggest challenge at this speed.

"With the rise of virtualization and an exponential increase in voice and video data traversing the network, it should come as no surprise that more and more companies are implementing higher capacity, higher bandwidth 10G networks," explained Tim McCreery, CEO at WildPackets. "As companies implement 10G, they need network performance management techniques and tools that keep pace with these faster networks. Using legacy 1G tools, customers are unable to get the visibility they need to ensure that network performance is sustained -- as the survey shows. More importantly, though, is the lack of utilization of network forensics tools in these high-speed network environments, which will hinder the ability to quickly resolve application and network issues."

The survey showed that less than half of the companies surveyed are implementing network forensics, which is the practice of capturing, recording and analyzing network events to discover the source of a security attack or a network or application problem. Yet, 85 percent of those surveyed stated that network forensics is essential at 10G.

The key challenges that network engineers face with network forensics are limited disk space (51 percent stated this was an issue), limited real-time statistics (47 percent stated it was an issue) and cost (56 percent stated this was their biggest challenge). In addition 50 percent of respondents stated they needed faster forensics search times with their current system.

In addition to these challenges, users stated they needed the following features with 10G network monitoring and analysis:

• 72 percent wanted more real-time statistics.
• 33 percent of those surveyed stated that they needed VoIP analysis at 10G.
• 51 percent stated they needed aggregation of network analysis across network segments.

Security attacks become even more of a challenge at 10G and 21 percent of respondents said that limitations of security monitoring solutions was a major problem. The most common security related anomalies used with a network analysis solution are Denial of Service and Intrusion Detection.

For more information on the survey please check out WildPackets' full report.

Online Resources:

• Check out our high-speed networks solution page
• Watch our webinar Network Forensics -- Your Only Choice at 10G
• Read our white paper on Network Forensics in a 10G World
• Follow WildPackets on Twitter
• Like WildPackets on Facebook
• Read the WildPackets Network Analysis and Monitoring Blog

About WildPackets, Inc.
WildPackets develops hardware and software solutions that drive network performance, enabling organizations of all sizes to analyze, troubleshoot, optimize, and secure their wired and wireless networks. WildPackets products are sold in over 60 countries and deployed in all industrial sectors. Customers include Boeing, Chrysler, Motorola, Nationwide, and over 80 percent of the Fortune 1000. WildPackets is a Cisco Technical Development Partner (CTDP). For more information, visit www.wildpackets.com.