NetQuest OMX3200 delivers high-density 100G+ network visibility
NetQuest Corporation, a global leader in optical network visibility solutions, announced the general availability of the OMX3200, a scalable packet processing platform that enables seamless migration to 100G network monitoring architectures to help SecOps and NetOps teams keep up with the dramatic growth in network traffic.
The OMX3200 provides a multi-terabit visibility solution with line-rate packet optimization and metadata generation enabling persistent monitoring of every IP packet traversing 100G+ networks.
“x86 and COTS switching-based monitoring solutions were initially effective at handling 100G network deployments and will remain viable moving forward for smaller tactical applications,” said Jesse Price, CEO and President of NetQuest Corporation. “The mass migration to 100G networks is accelerating and 200/400G upgrades are not far behind. The modular packet processing capacity of the OMX3200 provides a scalable approach for security and network operations teams to cost-effectively transition to 100G while leveraging their existing monitoring tool chain infrastructure.”
Overcoming network visibility challenges
The need to process higher volumes of traffic and complex network protocol stacks is putting a heavy burden on cyber security and monitoring tools that were deployed to handle 10G and 40G networks. Monitoring tools built on x86-based servers require assistance to cut through protocol wrappers at 100G traffic rates.
The OMX3200 leverages the flexibility and processing power of industry-leading FPGA technology to offload a wide array of critical visibility functions. It can:
- Optimize tool utilization by processing headers and tunneling protocols
- Significantly reduce traffic forwarded to costly analysis tools while maintaining 100% visibility by generating rich flow-based metadata records
- Enable access to IP traffic carried over WANs by removing optical transport protocols
Support for evolving networks
NetOps and SecOps teams, responsible for reliable network operations for service providers, large enterprises and governments agencies, must optimize their spending to guarantee network and application performance as well as to detect and prevent crippling cyber-attacks. The OMX3200’s modular 1U design provides a cost-efficient, scalable visibility solution for up to 3.2Tbps of advanced traffic handling across up to 32 x 100G network interfaces. The OMX is designed to support future upgrades to 200/400G monitoring interfaces as networks evolve and traffic rates continue to expand.
“Networks are quickly adapting to keep up with explosive bandwidth demands,” said Tim Doiron, Principal Analyst – Intelligent Networking, at ACG Research. “Optical transport and data center interconnect capacity is increasing in response. Our optical port tracker anticipates that the industry will have shipped more than 400,000 100G+ DWDM ports in 2018, with 24% of those being 200G capable and 2% being 400G capable. We expect hyperscale data center fabric connectivity to follow suit in 2019 and 2020 and move toward 200/400G optical connections putting additional strain on network monitoring applications.”
Legacy monitoring solutions rely on standard network packet brokers (NPB) to manage traffic flows and feed the appropriate traffic to the necessary analysis tools. As networks transition to 100G+ rates, the OMX3200 offers users cost-effective options for upgrading their monitoring infrastructure, including the ability to:
- Extend existing visibility fabric and leverage deployed NPBs for traffic aggregation and load balancing while offloading advanced packet processing functions to the OMX3200.
- Complement the advanced packet processing in the OMX3200 with cost-effective white box monitoring switches for directing traffic flows for further analysis.
NetQuest has added the OMX3200 to its suite of cyber appliances managed by the Alpine Patrol Network Management System where it will enhance its automation and analytics capabilities within both its Cyber Intelligence and Scalable Monitoring Access solution offerings.