InterMapper Adds NetFlow Traffic Analysis for Bandwidth Monitoring

New InterMapper Flows feature integrates bandwidth usage and real-time network traffic reporting with network maps

Watch the InterMapper Flows Video

Lebanon, NH – September 29, 2008 – Dartware's latest version of the InterMapper network monitoring and traffic analysis software includes fully integrated NetFlow data collection and reporting. “We've always concentrated on making it fast and easy for network managers to see exactly what's happening on their networks at any moment,” says Rich Brown, CEO of Dartware. “Now, specific information about traffic flow and sources has been added to the live network map that includes all devices and connections and their performance status. Put more simply, network managers using InterMapper will identify and locate bandwidth hogs with the click of a button.”

Dartware partners and beta testers have already benefitted from the new InterMapper Flows feature. “In the first 2-3 hours of using InterMapper Flows we found a machine that was generating huge amounts of DNS traffic in comparison to the usual traffic we see,” said Lyndon Labuschangne, Network Manager for Ecko Technologies, Dartware's VAR partner in Johannesburg, South Africa. “DNS traffic is usually pretty low compared to e-mail and web traffic so unless someone had been constantly reading firewall logs, this would have gone unnoticed for days. Instead, we immediately took the machine off the network and got it cleaned up.”

InterMapper Flows conducts full-fidelity NetFlow analysis. The amount of precision and detail delivered allows network managers to pinpoint bandwidth hogs and their behavior.

  • Data is kept over time – weeks, months, years – to highlight network traffic and usage trends.
  • Data is collected in increments down to one second to describe activity of interest with extreme accuracy.
  • Reporting is fast, extremely granular, and easy to digest. Users move easily from views of Top Hosts, Top Talkers, and Top Listeners without leaving their overall view of network activity and device performance.

InterMapper has always shown live network traffic patterns depicting traffic flow with “ants” that move between connected, mapped devices. With InterMapper Flows, a right-click on an icon reports the device that is producing the traffic. Network managers can choose to look at NetFlow data for a selected time period (over the course of a day down to one-second interval) to gain insight into traffic producers and bandwidth hogs. They'll instantly understand if bandwidth usage is legitimate and needs to be supported or extra-curricular and needs to be stopped.

“If there's a lot of traffic on the last day of each month and you know it's attributed to sales figures from remote offices being sent to headquarters, you want to be sure that bandwidth is available,” explains Brown. “If you see that heavy traffic at 5:00 on Fridays is your summer intern's MP3 uploads for the weekend, you want to have a talk with the intern and his manager.”

InterMapper with InterMapper Flows is now available from Dartware and its international network of resellers. Customers with current maintenance contracts for InterMapper can simply download and install the Flows add-on to their system.

About Dartware - www.dartware.com - Dartware, LLC develops the InterMapper® family of network mapping and monitoring software. InterMapper earns a quick return on investment by proactively alerting administrators to potential slow-downs, crashes, and other business interruptions. Its real-time, color-coded maps and other displays provide users with an instant view of their network and device status. Dartware's software is installed in financial services, healthcare, retail, education, government, non-profit, WISP and ISP organizations around the world..