Faster time-to-knowledge dramatically speeds problem resolution, assures service delivery, and improves IT efficiency.

WESTFORD, Mass. —May 19, 2009 (Las Vegas, Interop) — NetScout® Systems today announced the integration of its industry-leading, enterprise-class Sniffer® Global network analyzer with the open application programming interface of the Cisco Mobility Services Engine (MSE) to provide IT managers with contextual location-based knowledge that helps them more quickly identify and resolve network and service performance issues over wired and wireless networks. This integration results in optimized performance of the service delivery environment and improves users’ quality of experience. NetScout is also announcing membership in the new Cisco Developer Network for Mobility, and integration and interoperability is the first result of NetScout joining Cisco’s technology community.

As organizations become more dependent on the wireless network to deliver always-on services consistent with the service quality of wired networks, the challenge of network assurance in a wireless environment is that everything is constantly in motion. Until now, solving mobile performance issues has been a multi-step, multi-tool process requiring a number of different IT teams and a lot of time. With the integrated solution, having integrated location-based knowledge enables IT staff to immediately identify the location of wireless clients experiencing application or network performance problems, as well as other wireless devices that may contributing to the issue.

Faster Time-to-Knowledge
Enhancing the plug-and-play network analysis capabilities of Sniffer Global, integration with location information arms network managers with the physical location of wireless devices in context with relevant and critical network and application performance metrics. Using the integrated Sniffer Global solution, network managers go directly to the location of a problem, connect and discover all wireless devices in the area placed on a physical map – all within a single application. They then leverage intuitive, easy-to-use dashboards with network and application views to identify performance issues in real-time. This enables IT staff to seamlessly pinpoint the exact location of wireless clients experiencing application performance problems and identify performance-impacting behavior or applications, which could be originating from a nearby device or user. The powerful combination of in-depth wireless analysis and location information allows faster time-to-knowledge during critical problem diagnosis cycles, improving work flow and dramatically speeding problem resolution.

“Always-on access to information at the point-of-care has become essential to the level of patient care provided,” said Jeff Pelot, chief technology officer at Denver Health, Colorado's largest safety net health institution. “Denver Health has adopted Cisco Unified Wireless for on-the-floor service delivery throughout our facilities, and has been using NetScout technology for many years to assure service delivery. As we look at the integration of Sniffer Global with the Cisco MSE, we believe that the location capabilities may have the potential to enhance our service assurance capabilities for our critical wireless applications.”

Extending the Capabilities of Sniffer Global
The correlation of location information builds on the enterprise-class capabilities of Sniffer Global. Architected to support both wired and wireless networks, Sniffer Global is a secure solution that offers powerful analysis tools without compromising network and application security policy like traditional portable network analyzers do. It provides policy-based control of what network data a portable analyzer user has access to, and how deeply they can access and analyze network traffic or data.

For wireless environments, Sniffer Global provides sophisticated, plug-and-play segment-level analysis and monitoring for 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi network traffic with deep packet and rich expert analysis. Sniffer Global delivers best-in-class portable analysis with the industry’s widest range of protocol decodes. Real-time network and application analysis can be done from anywhere in the Cisco network – wired or wireless – including remote locations.

“At the same time that enterprises are tasked with doing more with smaller IT staffs, they are adding complexity to the network by incorporating new wireless technologies and devices,” said Abner Germanow, director, enterprise networking at IDC. “IT departments must improve their effectiveness and efficiency while delivering a seamless end user experience. Solutions that enable rapid response and provide greater visibility into the physical location of wireless devices on the network, while simplifying the management task and improving knowledge, provide a powerful way to achieve this goal.”

Investment leverage and Better IT Staff Collaboration
The NetScout solution including location information enables organizations to improve network operation while leveraging their existing investments in both network infrastructure and management tools. Facilitating efficient cross-organization collaboration and enabling tool consolidation, Sniffer Global can be used to manage the wireless control infrastructure, the application delivery network and the entire wired network – even in a large, geographically dispersed organization. Cross-functional collaboration with consistent tools and common data simplifies management and brings operational consistency, reducing the overall cost of managing IT operations.

“As business mobility becomes increasingly strategic, the IT organization must be able to effectively assure the delivery of services and maintain optimal performance at all times,” said Steven Shalita, vice president of marketing, NetScout Systems. “NetScout continues to focus on evolving its solutions to deliver greater value with the capabilities necessary to protect the integrity of the network, reduce downtime, and improve the reliability of service delivery by quickly resolving network and application performance issues. This innovative integration will help IT organizations improve group responsiveness and shorten time-to-knowledge while delivering increased value across the IT organization.”

Availability
The Sniffer Global 3.1 is scheduled for availability in July 2009. Software updates will be made available at no cost to current customers under a NetScout MasterCare™ maintenance contract. Sniffer Global is available in either an enterprise-wide, unlimited user license; or as a 10-user licensed deployment. Please contact NetScout or your NetScout authorized reseller for more information.

NetScout will be demonstrating the Sniffer Global and Cisco MSE integration at Interop booth #1351 and in the Cisco Partner Pavilion, booth #1719 Pod 6 on May 19-21, 2009.

About NetScout Systems
NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT) is the market leader in Unified Service Delivery Management enabling comprehensive end-to-end network and application assurance. For nearly 25 years, NetScout has delivered breakthrough packet-flow technology that provides trusted and comprehensive real-time network and application performance intelligence enabling unified assurance of the network, applications and users. These solutions enable IT staff to predict, preempt and resolve network and service delivery problems while facilitating the optimization and capacity planning of the network infrastructure. NetScout nGenius® and Sniffer® solutions are deployed at more than 20,000 of the world’s largest enterprises, government agencies, and service providers, to assure the network, applications and service delivery to their users and customers. More information about NetScout Systems is available at http://www.netscout.com.

NetScout, the NetScout logo, Sniffer and nGenius are registered trademarks and MasterCare is a trademark of NetScout Systems, Inc. The use of the word partner or partnership does not imply a legal partnership relationship between NetScout and any other company.

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