Gigamon: Kick Monitoring Up A Notch

Company:

Headquarters: Milpitas, Calif.

Technology Sector: Networking

Key Products: GigaVUE 420 and 2404 Data Access Switches

Year Founded: 2005

Number of Channel Partners: 25 in the U.S.

Ideal Channel Partner: Enterprise-focused solution provider

Why You Should Care: The GigaVUE line of switches replicates packets from one SPAN or TAP to many tools, resolving port sharing while also aggregating and intelligently filtering packets.

The Lowdown: Gigamon designed its GigaVUE line of data access switches with solution providers in mind. The privately held company embraces its partners, enabling them to be more than just box-pushers.

"We focus on the channel partner first," said Tom Gallatin, Gigamon's managing partner of sales and marketing.

Essentially, GigaVUE data access switches take packets from one TAP or SPAN and replicate them to many network monitoring tools. The device can also aggregate and filter packets from many SPANs or TAPs to one or many monitoring tools. This process creates an unobtrusive parallel tool deployment with network-wide coverage, which can reduce capital budgets and yield near-immediate ROI.

"We're creating an infrastructure we call the data access layer," he said, adding that the GigaVUE data access switches support a host of monitoring tools like sniffers and analyzers, any tool that requires passive or import-only data. From there, it intelligently adds packet awareness for aggregation and management creating a central tool. "When we talk about aggregation and tool consolidation, we're reducing the number of distributed tools."

And for VARs, the GigaVUE box is a good addition or entry point into any monitoring project, whether it involves security, VoIP or general purpose networking, Gallatin said. The GigaVUE switch can be added to analyzer or sniffer tool sales, or brought in by a partner as a way to whittle down the number of tools on the network.

The GigaVUE switch comes in two flavors, the GigaVUE 420, which is available with four copper 10/100/1000 ports or four fiber optic SFP ports, four optional 1 Gigabit expansion or TAP module bays and four 10 Gigabit expansion or TAP module bays that when fully configured can support four 10 Gigabit ports and 20 1 Gigabit ports plus stacking; and the GigaVUE 2404, which at full scale offers up to 24 10 Gigabit and four 1 Gigabit ports in a 2U chassis.

The cost savings comes in by reducing and consolidating the number of monitoring tools needed to keep tabs on network traffic. That elimination of boxes in the network can dramatically cut power costs and rack space.

"The value proposition is that it saves more money than it costs," he said. "It's day-one ROI."

While the data access switch and the concept of a data access network is still relatively fresh, Gallatin said it's starting to gather steam and VARs are excited. Currently, Gigamon has 25 partners in the U.S. focused on specific regions. That small, concentrated number, he said, reduces conflict, ultimately protecting VARs' margins.

"We support the channel," he said. "We are not out there competing with you."