Without implementing a network packet broker into an enterprise’s infrastructure, chances are a business will suffer catastrophic results from major network slowdowns caused by too many actions taking place simultaneously. Network packet brokers (NPBs) are key to increasing visibility and efficiency within every aspect of a network, thus enabling businesses to continue to meet increasing demands with ease.

This week in the rapidly growing space, Net Optics (News - Alert), a provider of an intelligent network access and monitoring architecture, officially debuted the xStream 4.0 Family. Touted as significantly improving data monitoring coverage while eliminating multiple obstacles, this network packet broker can help to improve the customer experience overall.

Some of the offerings included within this platform include the xBalancer, Director xStream 4.0 Data Monitoring Switch and iLink Agg xStream 4.0 Monitoring Link Aggregator.

The xBalancer is a robust load balancing tool that is ideal for 10G and 1G networks that can be leveraged to enhance a user’s ability to view an assortment of network traffic while sending different types to multiple monitoring tools.

In other news, it was revealed that Riverbed (News - Alert) Technology has licensed Vineyard’s Network Application Visibility Library (NAVL) deep packet inspection (DPI) engine, giving customers access to a highly intuitive application classification technology that can much better protect critical applications.

This solution is perfect for developers of firewalls, unified threat management (UTM) and other network security and management solutions due to the fact that it assists them in easily developing and adhering to rigorous application admission, control and performance mandates within the enterprise environment.

Rob Quiros, vice president of Product Management at Riverbed, said that working closely with Vineyard continues to pay dividends as Riverbed is providing additional value to its global customer base. He also commented that this strategic relationship has been mutually beneficial.

“We continue to collaborate with Vineyard to deliver innovative solutions to enterprises leveraging the NAVL deep packet inspection technology,” Quiros added.

Closing out the week, Cyan, a global innovator of software-defined metro network solutions, inked a strategic alliance with Nissho Electronics, one of Japan's biggest distributors and system integrators of IT related products and services. Under this agreement, Nissho will market, deploy and support Cyan's innovative software-defined metro network solution throughout Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam.

In a statement, Cyan Chairman and CEO Mark Floyd said, "Nissho is an ideal partner for Cyan and we are pleased to be working with them in the Japanese market. They have a long history of technical leadership, being among the first to introduce ground-breaking new solutions to the market. This partnership is especially important given the expertise Nissho has with virtualization, a cloud data center concept that we see moving rapidly into the network."

This offering boasts many capabilities that closely mirror a network packet broker solution, enabling various businesses and carriers to build more scalable metro and regional networks for a cost-effective price.

To keep up-to-date with all of the latest and greatest in the network packer broker space, be sure to stay glued to this community exclusively on TMCnet!