Network Traffic Monitoring

Network Traffic Monitoring has in the last 10 years become of critical importance to the successful operation of virtually any modern business that relies on network connectivity to operate.  From libraries to lawyers offices, from school districts to engineering firms, most businesses today are reliant on their network connectivity to do their business.  For example, a law firm may have several offices but keep their client files stored at a single location.  In order to access those files, they must be transported over an internet link from the central site to a lawyers office as they are needed.  Access to these files is obviously critically important, and being unable to access these files in a timely fashion because of link congestion costs the firm time and money.  Being able to monitor what traffic is on the network that is competing with business critical traffic, such as the case of accessing client files in the law firm example, allows the administrators of a business's internet link to pro-actively deal with issues as they arise.

A big key to successful traffic monitoring for multi-location businesses is being able to monitor the network links of all of a business's locations in a simple and cohesive way.  Monitoring each link individually is cumbersome and it proves difficult to diagnose problems when the information is not presented in a single application.  The ability to see your Network activity first as a whole and, as problems are encountered, to have the ability to `zero-in` on a specific location to find more details is necessary for efficient diagnosis of networking issues.  Also, being able to report on application and host usage from either a Network wide or location specific point of view is a required element to a complete Network Traffic Monitoring solution.