Cisco Chooses Net Optics to Validate MACsec Protection

Ultra Visibility for Cisco Networks

Cisco is using Net Optics’ capabilities to make a powerful point at its Cisco Live exhibit Last week: no network is safe without MACsec. Now audiences can see in real time just how MACsec encryption works to protect data integrity in the LAN. Without MACsec, traffic types and protocols are exposed and unprotected. But with MACsec encryption, traffic types and protocols are hidden, shielding the network from intrusion and compromise.

Reliable performance in front of thousands of attendees

In the demo, the HD8 Fiber Taps passively gather information on data running between Cisco switches and send the information to Director xStream Pro, whose advanced packet capture lets it collect and display traffic clearly in its user interface.

Viewers instantly see that traffic protected by MACsec is safely encrypted—but traffic from the switch lacking MACsec clearly reveals its types and protocols—a serious vulnerability. The ability of Net Optics products to integrate smoothly with Cisco switches and work reliably before thousands of attendees demonstrates Director xStream Pro’s reliable, real-time traffic visibility for compliance validation and reporting capabilities.

Read the Full Solution Brief: What Director xStream Pro Is Telling Audiences at Cisco Live

Application Feature Testing Recognized for Outstanding Innovation

Telnet Networks is proud to represent IQ SERVICES in Canada and is pleased to announce that TMC, a global, integrated media company, has named Application Feature Testing as a recipient of the 2010 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award.

Application Feature Testing offers a unique method for verifying the functionality of voice self-service solutions. This robust managed service ensures the IVR solution correctly responds as expected to any user input, documenting all system responses, including discrepancies.  After testing is completed, clients receive online access to all test results, test call recordings and call logs, as well as a variety of reports and statistics for each test run. “We are thrilled to receive this award. Our clients have found Application Feature Testing to be invaluable in their efforts to deploy and maintain quality IVR applications,” says Mike Burke, CTO of IQ Services. “This award validates what our clients tell us. Our unique online reporting delivers unparalleled insight and makes things so much easier for the development and support teams.”

“I am pleased to announce IQ Services as a Product of the Year Award winner. The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY have verified that Application Feature Testing displays quality and innovation plus provides real needs in the marketplace,” stated Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “I would like to congratulate IQ Services for its commitment to advancing IP communication technologies.”

Picking the Right Application Monitoring Solution

With network engineers discovering their reality now includes managing and troubleshooting applications, you’ve probably heard the term application performance monitoring (APM) as much as other buzzwords like cloud. Okay, maybe not as much as cloud. But like it or not, you need to be prepared. With everyone touting their application monitoring expertise, how do you choose the right APM solution?

First, let’s discuss what APM means. For many, APM is understanding application response time. In reality, there is a lot more that goes into ensuring applications are delivered on-time and meeting user expectations. APM is a comprehensive process of measuring, quantifying, and reporting all relevant metrics related to the IT infrastructure used by your company to run applications and deliver services.

This means tracking application error codes, delivery metrics, conversations, long-term behaviour, and underlying infrastructure performance. This would include the network itself and anything connected to it; routers, switches, servers, clients, and storage appliances are examples. Successful application monitoring requires views of all facets related to delivery.

The following table breaks down key components for a comprehensive APM solution:

Attribute	Description
Complete and Integtrated Views	Quickly determine problem magnitude and isolate the source, using comprehensive views of application metrics alongside views of the network and devices supporting delivery
High Level Reporting	Critical for and immediate understanding of enterprise-wide performance.  Should include pre-conffigured dashboards and reports, thresholds and performance baselines, proactive alert notification, and deep dive ability
Customized and Secure Data Sharing	Gain cooperation between teams for faster problem resolution and capacity planning. APM solutions should provide easily customizable and secure sharing of relevant real-time and post-capture data with other IT teams.
Continuous Capture	While metrics can point to performance degradation, only packets provide actual resolution. Long-term packet capture saves all packets for post-event analysis and provides historical views of application behaviour.
Application Specific Details	Get beyond simple response time measurements. To accurately diagnose application issues requires in-depth performance details, including application requests, fulfillments, error codes, and quality monitoring metrics.
Expert Analysis	Robust expert analytics reduces the time it takes to manage and troubleshoot performance by automating key tasks and providing advice on network and application issues.
Flexible baselining	Customizable baselining capabilities can help accurately track internal and cloud applications. Cloud vendor SLAs are typically fixed, and thresholds will be set manually. Internal applications will use rolling baselines to create thresholds based on past performance. Once optimal performance is determined, solutions should be able to lock thresholds to avoid baseline drift.
Data-Stream Reconstruction	Reconstructing network and application activities are essential for investigating complex problems such as VoIP call quality issues or security breaches.
Scalability	In-the-field appliance and storage upgrades provide necessary assurance that your current platform will meet future demands as network traffic increases.