AppTap

AppTap is being billed by NetOptics as a way to combine network tapping capabilities with network and application monitoring, with the goal of making it affordable to monitor remote sites with Internet broadband connections up to 100Mb.

Normally such a task would involve on-site engineers, a pretty expensive proposition. And during no tech tool is ever a complete substitute for a good engineer -- hard to discuss last night’s game over coffee with software -- with AppTap you would be able to capture and analyze network traffic and application activity, and monitor VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls, carry out capacity planning and trend analysis.

The lure for such a tool is the fact that geographically distributed offices -- of which we see more and more -- need to monitor network and application integrity, and aren’t crazy about having to shell out for on-site engineers to make sure everything’s running smoothly. This is designed to save you that expense.

A couple weeks ago TMC’s Beecher Tuttle wrote that NetOptics recently offered telecos "a few helpful tips on how they can successfully transition to a 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) network without having to suffer through" many of the usual issues.

The most data

They recommend that telecommunication companies "monitor for clients who use the most data and throttle them back, or even block some traffic flows if necessary. The company as well recommends employing network-side visibility to minimize downtime and allow for immediate issue resolution," Tuttle wrote.

AppTap is designed exactly for satellite offices, as it enables access to network traffic data "at line rate to monitor and manage network, application, and session performance," company officials say, adding that it can help with slow or underperforming applications or "issues just as link errors, oversubscribed resources, misconfigured DNS or proxy servers, and choppy VOIP connections," streamlining diagnosis and resolution.

Big feature of appTap

Visibility is a big feature of appTap, as it’s a point of repeated emphasis by company officials. It’s engineered to offer "continuous, 100 percent visibility of network traffic and application," providing an "instant view of key performance indicators just as network volume, Top Talkers and network use by application."

There’s as well visibility into application activity just as VoIP calls, Web 2.0 apps and instant messaging, company officials say, "as so then as detailed breakdown of layer, protocol, and application use, session statistics, data stream information, and identifying of underlying applications."