No Jitter is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Savvius Brings Affordable Network Analysis to SMBs

Savvius, the packet-level network analytics and forensics solutions vendor formerly known as Wild Packets, this week announced a mini network appliance with Splunk integration that allows network administrators and IT consultants to gather network performance and security intelligence from any location.

This mini network appliance, called Savvius Insight, includes Savvius OmniPeek network performance management software for monitoring and local or remote troubleshooting, and Splunk Forwarder to send network analytics to Splunk Enterprise or Splunk Cloud. With Savvius Insight, which performs network analytics locally and in real time, network professionals, IT consultants, and Splunk administrators can view and maintain the performance of remote and smaller standalone networks.

The company intends to disrupt the market by providing a low-cost solution (street price is $1,500) with high-end features, including a console view using red, yellow, and green dashboard indicators that make scanning for and recognizing problem areas easy to do, Larry Zulch, president of Savvius, told me. Another differentiator is that the Insight appliance does not require a subscription. Rather, customers can place orders direct, through Amazon, and from select resellers. Volume discounts are available for large installations.

Savvius Insight connects directly inline at the Internet connection through an internal bridge mode or via a network SPAN port. Once connected, Insight begins reporting network statistics and events to Splunk within minutes. It can perform additional analysis on up to three network segments.

The appliance is configurable via an intuitive Web interface. For more detailed packet analysis, a network administrator can connect with Savvius's OmniPeek for Insight software to filter, select, search, or start additional captures as needed. All packets are stored in standard PCAP format at a sustained maximum rate of 70Mbps per port. The appliance is equipped with a 128GB HDD/SSD.

Price is really everything for a small and medium-sized business (SMB), and we know how costly troubleshooting can be in IP networks regardless of the network size. I always remember a question No Jitter publisher Eric Krapf used to ask me years ago: "What's your average service ticket like in the IP realm vs. for TDM systems?" And I myself have long pondered the question: What SMB is going to pay for network analysis, and at what price?

So what struck me when speaking with Larry is that Savvius Insight touches SMBs right where they live. He is pretty outspoken about his passion for addressing the needs of the SMB space, and about why Savvius is focused on this market.

An SMB can rationalize a $1,500 investment in the sense of a subscription or service contract, adding in $50 monthly with a three-year maintenance contract, for example. We all know the potential benefits: lower costs for repair/resolution and faster time to isolate and repair. The Savvius Insight appliance should be a hit because it is right on target with the capabilities and price point.

Follow Matt Brunk on Twitter and Google+!
@telecomworx
Matt Brunk on Google+