The Performance Zone

VoIP- The Passing of an Age?

Submitted by Michael Valladao, NetScout Product Marketing Manager

This week I attended the 18th Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO at the Los Angeles Convention Center.   This conference, often referred to IT EXPO-West is one of the premiere telephony events and has drawn huge crowds over the years.

But like the telephony industry it represents, IT Expo has undergone a major metamorphosis.  No longer is the emphasis on VoIP installations and justifications to replace old telephone networks.  As I walked the trade show floor and attended conference sessions, I observed that this year the conference focused more on Unified Communications, SIP Trunking, Call Centers, and Presence.  And I couldn't help but notice the crowds were down and fewer attendees tended to be from the United States.  We also saw more attention on the integration of existing applications than on new development.

A Better Picture is Worth a Billion Dollars

Submitted by Adam Reeves, NetScout Product Marketing Manager

We’ve all heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” In the case of United Airlines investors earlier this month it could have been, “a better picture is worth a billion dollars.”

On Sept 8, United Airlines stock temporarily lost more than 75% of its value as it dropped from around $12/share to around $3 after an article on its 2002 bankruptcy was distributed as new news after a mistake made by some combination of Google, the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper, Income Security Advisors, and Bloomberg. The event has been widely reported, but in case you haven’t read about it here’s a New York Times article - Ultimately, the stock rebounded and ended the day having regained a large portion of its loss.

Interop New York Organizers Tap NetScout Experts for Two Sessions

Submitted by Brian Robertson, NetScout Product Marketing Manager

Interop New York Organizers Tap NetScout Experts for Two Sessions
Insights Shared to Help Attendees Keep Pace with the Evolution of the Modern IP Network

WESTFORD, Mass. – September 15, 2008—NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT), the industry leader in advanced network and application performance management, today announced that the company has been invited to participate on two panel discussions at this week’s Interop New York 2008, where attendees will be exploring some of the crucial techniques that IT organizations must use to better manage and control network performance. 

NetScout representatives also will be available in booth 753 throughout Interop NY, which is being held at the Javits Center.  The event is the leading global business technology event and offers an unparalleled view into cutting edge innovations and solutions in the industry.  Interop NY provides business and IT professionals the chance to exchange thoughts on provoking new technologies and address critical issues facing the industry today.

Taking the Focus off of FCC Reporting, Putting it on the Customer

Submitted by Adam Reeves, NetScout Product Marketing Manager

The FCC is allowing telephone operators to stop filing yearly reports on service quality and customer satisfaction as part of their ARMIS (Automated Reporting Management Information System) filings that had been mandated in 1987. I had originally read about the issue at wsj.com (– sorry it’s pay to read the entire article) and saw that in fact, on Friday, the FCC had issued a 57 page document announcing the change (http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-203A1.doc).

NetScout's Own Eileen Haggerty is a Guest Blogger on Xchange

Submitted by Brian Robertson, NetScout Product Marketing Manager

Recently Eileen Haggerty was invited as a guest blogger on www.xchangemag.com due to her recent post here on www.netscoutblog.com titled "Is the 3G iPhone still what's hot?".

This particular contribution expands on the impact of 3G technology in terms of new ways in which it is opening the doors to disseminate information and what can happen if the proper tools aren't in place to ensure reliability.

With examples of authenticating servers not being able to activate new iPhone accounts, and the new ways that presidential hopefuls are campaigning you don't want to miss the posting, find it here on xchangemag.com.

Web 2.0 encouraging communication service providers to be more open with us.

Submitted by Adam Reeves, NetScout Product Marketing Manager

I was writing a while back about how the success of femtocells may drive new applications and business models for mobile service providers (LINK TO PREVIOUS ENTRY). It reminded me of another webinar I watched a while back on web 2.0 and its impact on the service provider community. The webinar was presented by Lightreading (www.lightreading.com) can be found here – (you will need to register to watch the webinar).

I came away from the webinar believing that as the information economy becomes more open, that communication service providers (CSPs) are going to have to a) continue opening up their networks, enabling services, and even customer-facing services to 3^rd parties that are creating new applications, b) use this openeness and access to generate new revenue (even using new revenue models), and c) since they’ll be generating revenues on the applications be able to guarantee the performance of their services and their underlying components.

Vacations – Good, Bad, or Evil?

Submitted By Michael Valladao, Product Marketing Manager for NetScout

This morning I received yet another message from a colleague asking me to fill in while they are on PTO. It’s the end of summer and it seems like everyone is going on vacation.  There are vacant cubes all over the office and plenty of open parking spaces outside.  What’s with that?  Don’t people understand there is work to do?

The same thing happens when I call folks back at our Corporate Headquarters outside of Boston.  Apparently, New Englanders go to “The Cape” a lot.  We don’t have a Cape here in California.  Even if we did, the Pacific Ocean is cold during the summer months.  So it is hard to relate.

It’s hard to believe, but IT people take vacations too.  That often means the help desk is understaffed or there is a summer intern covering the phones. How is a network supposed to run at peak efficiency when a key person who genuinely understands the network is floating down a river somewhere with a six-pack of beer and no cell coverage?  Just another hurdle in managing today’s Modern IP Network.  The most productive network teams I have ever worked with always manipulated their vacation schedules to ensure at least one high ranking network guru was available during the busy vacation season.  If you planned properly, colleagues would go the same destination to scope things out and figure out the best way to pass the time.  That way, when they returned, you could make the most out of your vacation. 

Going Green or Spending Greenbacks?

Submitted by Eileen Haggerty, NetScout Director of Product Marketing

So I was catching up on my technology reading over vacation last week and stopped to read Mike Fratto’s Information Week article “Face to Face, But Miles Apart” – it was a review of the New LifeSize products introduced to help companies cost-effectively deploy telepresence solutions, sometimes referred to as, high-definition videoconferencing.

It first caught my attention because it was about LifeSize, and NetScout’s booth at Interop Las Vegas this past May was across the aisle from LifeSize.  As I was often in this corner of our booth giving demos and talking with IT professionals, I couldn’t help but occasionally look over at their screens promoting sessions back to their headquarters.  I have to say, I was impressed by the quality of the sessions!

Network Management Haiku for LDAP

Submitted by Heidi Gabrielson, NetScout Product Marketing Manager

Packet details show

LDAP servers not in sync;

nGenius System.

This haiku was inspired by a customer in the financial services area who noticed that two of its six LDAP servers were showing  increased conversations. Using the packets stored on a continuous capture device, the network team was able to analyze the packet decode and bounce charts to determine that the two servers were unsuccessfully attempting to re-sync. Once they were both reset, performance of the LDAP servers and overall traffic volume returned to acceptable levels and the company’s thousands of remote employees were once again able to login in.

For the complete case study, see http://search.netscout.com/b/trk?uid=5bbce60469fb1512&sn=155802288&ip=207.15.192.251&lgkKy=ldap+server+sync&rn=1&http://www.netscout.com/docs/appnotes/NetScout_appnote_Reducing_MTTR.pdf?cpid=blog

When the Modern IP Network Fails, It Makes an Impact

Submitted by Eileen Haggerty, NetScout's Director Product Marketing

It is hard to miss the news reports on the latest Netflix shipping problems.  Apparently, they have had difficulty in shipping DVDs to customers since Tuesday morning, August 12.  A company with 55 U.S. distribution centers that distributes approximately 2 million discs a day is experiencing only their second incident of missed shipments in their nearly 10 year history.  It appears that no discs were shipped Tuesday or Thursday while some got out on Wednesday, affecting approximately 2.8 million of their 8.4 million subscribers.  Netflix company spokesman Steve Swasey has been quoted as saying that Netflix is “having severe system issues on our shipping.”