To Monitor Network Performance

vnunet.com, a major UK information provider which brings product provider and purchaser business communities together, recently published a review of the latest version of COLASOFT network protocol analyzer- Capsa. After a thorough laboratory test, Dave Bailey, the chief editor, compiled a detailed review of its functionality and its uniqueness by comparing with similar network protocol analyzer software in a crowded market.

"Launched in November, COLASOFT's Capsa 6.9 network protocol analyzer has an uphill fight to disturb the leaders in this particular space, mainly because the market has moved on from straight network protocol analysis to digging directly into application network streams." - Dave Bailey, Editor, vnunet.com.

COLASOFT Capsa is network protocol analyzer software designed for network monitoring and troubleshooting purposes. It performs real-time packet capturing, 24/7 network monitoring, advanced protocol analyzing, in-depth packet decoding, and automatic expert diagnosing. By giving users insights into all of the network's operations, Capsa makes it easy to isolate and solve network problems, identify network bottleneck and bandwidth use, and detect network vulnerabilities, external attacks and insecure applications.

"It was easy to capture and filter network traffic and use the diagnosis analyzer to check different network layers. The GUI is simple to negotiate and a few clicks were sufficient to pull network traffic off all our NICs, and perform quite detailed analysis." - Dave Bailey, Editor, vnunet.com.

The complete review of COLASOFT protocol analyzer software can be viewed here http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/software/2232654/review-colasoft-capsa

COLASOFT protocol analyzer is currently certified for Windows 2000 Professional, XP Professional, Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008, as well as 64-bit versions of these operating systems. You can download a free trial version at its official website http://www.colasoft.com

About COLASOFT

Ever since 2001, COLASOFT has been dedicated in providing all-in-one and easy-to-use network analysis software for customers to monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot their network. Up to now, more than 4000 customers in over 70 countries trust the flagship product – Capsa as their network monitoring and troubleshooting solution. The company also offers four free network utilities: COLASOFT Packet Builder, COLASOFT Packet Player, COLASOFT MAC Scanner, and COLASOFT Ping Tool.

Difference Between A Switch And Router

Switches and routers are special devices that enable you to make connections between and among computers, printers, peripherals, networked devices and/or other networks. A switch or a router has at least two ports into which you plug devices? cables to make the connection, but the similarities more or less end right there. What goes on inside these units is what distinguishes one from another. The terms are often used interchangeably, which is dead wrong, and using the devices incorrectly can result in a network that is just plain dead.

Switches do what simpler devices called ?hubs? do, but much more effectively, which is why hubs are decreasing in popularity. A switch will essentially ?learn? about the network ?traffic? that flows into and through it, and remember what the particular ?addresses? represent. For a basic example, a switch will sense traffic from Computer #1 arriving via Port #2, so it knows that any signals that are bound for Computer #1 will have to go out that particular port, as well. Whereas the older, simpler hubs send every signal everywhere, a switch only sends traffic exactly where it needs to go. Busy networks will run dramatically faster with proper switches installed.

Routers big and small

Routers are many orders of magnitude more complex than simple, straightforward switches, and there are many different models in many different form factors from which to choose. Routers can be anything from a small, paperback-book-size, four-port, wireless broadband router to the mammoth and powerful devices that are the traffic cops at the main intersections of the Internet itself. Without these ?intelligent appliances,? there would be no World Wide Web as there is today.

Simply put, a router is specialized computer that is programmed for its various important functions. It needs to be aware of the network data, as well as manage and manipulate it in various ways when required, while it also works tirelessly to route data both quickly and correctly. Today's broadband routers use their special firmware (built-in software) to camouflage or hide computers behind what's called a firewall. All routers have the ability to configure the handling of the network traffic through some kind of user interface running on the ?administrator's? computer.

Speed and connectivity

You will see a few terms that apply to both of these devices, the most important of which is network speed. Today's switches and routers are commonly capable of both current and ?legacy? (a fancy word for ?old?) speeds, and will often be labeled 10/100/1000. These figures refer to the number of megabits, or millions of bits, per second (mbps) the device can handle. You may have or see some older devices labeled with only one speed, which limits its use to devices operating at the same level. However, "gigabit" devices (1000mbps) are the most common now, and as 10/100/1000 devices they handle all speeds well.

A growing number of home and business networks have gone wireless, and the trend is accelerating all the time. The technical term for the wireless router protocols are 802.11b, 802.11g and the newest one, 802.11n. Wireless transceivers in these routers basically add more ?virtual ports? to the device. Wireless or wired, routers are standard equipment these days, and falling prices combined with increasing technological sophistication will see to it that they continue to spread.

There are some people who think that switches will eventually disappear as far as home use is concerned, although large businesses and web server companies will need them for a long time to come because of the varied connectivity requirements of their operations. As the so-called digital convergence continues, routers may end up being combined with cable or DSL modems to eliminate multiple pieces of equipment in the standard home or small-business network. If past is prologue in this field, then we can expect both switches and routers to get smaller, better, faster and cheaper all the time.

Another VoIP Milestone: Over 1,000 Billion VoIP Minutes Used In 2006

The 8th annual report on VoIP industry published by iLocus identifies size and market leaders in over 50 market segments/sub-segments within the VoIP services and equipment markets.

In terms of VoIP minutes, estimated 1,079 billion minutes of VoIP traffic was carried by service providers worldwide in 2006. Of these minutes, 382.3 billion were local call volume, 614.4 billion were national long distance (NLD) call volume, and 82.6 billion were international long distance (ILD) call volume.

iLocus has been following the VoIP minutes data since March 1999. It is the only research group that has been able to consistently track such data and attribute the share of these minutes to service providers and vendors. In particular, iLocus pioneered the concept of attributing market share in traffic/minutes to equipment providers back in 1999.

David Quirk, CEO of C21 said: We at C21 Communications appreciate the annual report on VoIP industry, because it enables us to track particular market trends." C21 Communications is a Next Generation Network (NGN) solution provider and exclusive distributor of Topex products (Softswitches, media gateways and fixed mobile convergence equipment) in the UK.

In the carrier VoIP equipment market, softswitches and media gateways generated combined revenues of $2.2 billion, which represents about 24 percent growth over the previous year 2005. During the calendar year 2006, 36.9 million Class 5 softswitch licenses, 34.8 million Class 4 softswitch licenses, and 48.2 million service provider media gateway ports were sold in the market worldwide

In the area of Class 5 softswitch if the contribution from independent application server makers is included, then the actual Next Generation Network subscriber line licenses sold during 2006 comes up to 40.9 million. Out of the 40.9 million lines, an estimated 14.8 million lines were deployed for hosted VoBB application. The 14.8 million figure further splits into 3.4 million lines of hosted business Centrex/PBX and 11.4 million residential VoBB lines.

In the enterprise segment, the annual report reveals that in 2006 vendors shipped a total of about 18.3 million IP PBX end user licenses, and an estimated 8.5 million desktop IP phones. Desktop IP phone sales grew 38 percent over the previous year 2005, while the IPPBX market grew an impressive 52 percent year over year.

The VoIP industry report further reveals that that there were estimated 37.5 million VoBB subscribers worldwide as of end 2006. 16.5 million new VoBB subscribers were added during 2006. US added almost 3 million new VoBB subscribers during 2006. France and Germany added about 2.15 million and 1.16 million new VoBB subscribers respectively during 2006. Other markets which were aggressive in expanding VoBB subscriber base in 2006 include Netherlands, Canada, and Italy.

The research also showed that desktop IP phone sales increased by 38 per cent and the internet protocol private branch exchange (IPPBX) market grew by 52 per cent.

What Is A Wireless Network

Having a wireless network opens up many possibilities.

Wireless networks provide an inexpensive and easy way to share a single Internet connection among several computers. This means you only need one modem, and you can add additional computers to the network just by plugging in a wireless card and turning them on. The new machines are connected to the Internet immediately.

A wireless network also lets you access files and printers from anywhere in your home. It allows you to synchronize files you have on your laptop with your home computer, and you can easily send files between computers as well. Using a wireless network to transfer files is faster than sending them via e-mail or burning them to a CD! Because printers connected to one of the computers on a network are shared by all the computers on that network, you can write documents anywhere in your home, press the print button, and collect the printed files from a printer that is connected to another computer.

If you are a game player, you have probably noticed that your games often have an option to play over a local area network or LAN. Wireless networks are LANs! This means you and your family can play these games together and do not have to be on computers that are next to each other to do so. Lets face it it is more fun to play against real people, and it is even more fun to play against people you know instead of strangers on the Internet. Your games will also play much faster over your LAN. Additionally, you can connect game consoles to the Internet and begin playing these games online. It is much easier to experience online play through an Xbox or PlayStation 2 that is connected to a wireless network than have to use a modem!

Wireless network connections are always on. This means you can connect to the Internet whenever you want without waiting for your modem to dial in. Laptops can be carried from room to room, and they will always have access to the Internet. Since wireless networks operate without the need to log in, you do not need to set up usernames or passwords.

The single greatest thing about a wireless network is that it is, well, wireless! The biggest reason to have a wireless network is because it eliminates the need for costly, ugly, and dangerous wires trailing all over your house. You can use your computer in any room you want no more being trapped near a phone outlet or walking over that tangle of wires in your home. The cost of getting enough Ethernet cables can add up, and sometimes, you may even have to make holes in your walls to set up a wired network. If you are renting, of course, this is impossible. With a wireless network, you do not have these problems - you can even use your computer outside if you want! And if you move, there is no need to disconnect and pack up all those wires, and you no longer have to examine all the wires for damage whenever your Internet connection goes down.

You can see how having a wireless network can simplify your life.

Denial Of Service Attack

A router can only handle so much information coming into it at one time. Every machine has its limits and routers are no exceptions. Well, when the nasty trend of denial of service attacks started early this century, routers were unprepared for them. As they began to understand what was happening they began to compensate for the problem. But there was still a way around it. To understand this we first have to understand what a denial of service attack is.

A denial of service attack is just as it sounds. It is when someone prevents the router or routers from servicing the network. The question is, how do they do this? As previously stated, a router can only handle so much information coming into it to be routed at a time. If too much information starts coming in then the router gets overloaded and can't forward the information fast enough. Ultimately, what happens is this slows the network down to the point where nobody can access it. In a denial of service attack, which is a deliberate attempt to cause this problem, a person will send an enormous amount of information from one computer to the router at one time. Eventually this will effectively shut down the network. The reason is because of the trickle down effect. Once the main routers start to get overloaded they start to send messages to the rest of the network that the connection is full. These messages start to cascade through the entire network until all the pathways in the network are full and nobody can communicate with any server on the network.

When companies and web sites began to understand what was happening then started to put safeguards in place. They would put checks in the router software to see if a large amount of information was coming from one IP address. If so, then it simply discarded the information and didn't attempt to pass it on. It seemed that the problem was solved. Not so.

Hackers began to figure out that if they send this enormous amount of information from multiple computers or IP addresses, the routers would have no way of knowing that a denial of service attack was in progress because it would see all this information coming in from multiple locations. Ultimately again, the network would effectively be shut down.

In response to this, manufacturers of routers have placed additional safeguards into their routers to simply check for unusual traffic. The problem with this is that in some cases there is a large amount of traffic that is normal, like in the case of a news site being hit with an overload because a major breaking story hits the airwaves.