Gigamon™, the leading global provider of Intelligent Data Access Networking™, today announced immediate availability of its new entry-level Data Access Switch, the GigaVUE-212™. A networking industry first, the GigaVUE-212 is a modular packet-aware Data Access Switch which aggregates, replicates, filters and load divides traffic flows across multiple passive monitoring tools at a fraction of the cost of similar devices. This new product will provide much of the same functionality as Gigamon's popular GigaVUE-420® and GigaVUE-2404® Platforms, but at a much lower cost and for implementations where fewer ports are needed, thus providing access to Gigamon's proven network-monitoring technology to a wider customer base.

At a much lower entry price level, the switch supports eight 1GE ports and two 10GE ports with an optional expansion module for support of another four 1GE ports. The GigaVUE-212 is ideal for data centers and enterprises who either require a low-cost option in order to enhance their network monitoring for the first time, or who have areas of their networks where they need lower port counts to support comprehensive monitoring.

With support for plug-in of multiple out-of-band tools, the GigaVUE-212 enables enterprises and data centers to connect any tool to any data stream unobtrusively while enabling aggregation, replicating, filtering and load balancing of multiple data streams. By integrating the GigaVUE-212 Switch into their networks, data centers and enterprises can achieve immediate return on investment (ROI) by consolidating distributed tools and reducing management expense. Additionally, the GigaVUE-212 provides for accurate measurement of time sensitive protocols and quality of service (QoS), a reduction in packet loss to improve monitoring fidelity and support for continuous monitoring and scalable growth with hot-swap modules.

"The GigaVUE-212 is a purpose-built data access switch capable of full line-rate performance and minimal transfer latency," said Gigamon Chief Technology Officer Patrick Leong. "With Gigamon's technology, nearly any number of traffic sources may be aggregated, filtered and distributed to one or more monitoring tools at any speed. The GigaVUE-212 rounds out a comprehensive Intelligent Data Access Networking product family that ensures immediate ROI."

"The GigaVUE-212 advances the networking industry by providing enhanced monitoring technology at a much lower cost than other devices with similar capabilities," said Kevin Jablonski, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Gigamon. "By offering the GigaVUE-212 product, Gigamon fulfills its customers' requirements for a full spectrum of product options that meet the needs of any network configuration."

Gigamon recently announced its new software application family GigaSMART™ to enhance its award-winning GigaVUE-2404 Platform, along with the GigaVUE Platform Release 7.0, which delivers increased flexibility by allowing the unique feature of dynamically adding or dropping cross-box connections. GigaSMART is the data access industry's first 10-Gig full line-rate packet modification technology to offer time stamping, network port labeling, slicing and masking. This enables organizations to realize further optimization and efficiencies in performance, security, compliance and analysis monitoring.