New Telstra acquisition lands data centre gig

O2 Networks has rolled out some heavy-duty network monitoring gear to the Australian data centre run by sharemarket and wealth management systems provider IRESS.

IRESS has opted for EndaceProbe Intelligent Network Recorder and the EndaceVision software, which are intended to improve network performance and security monitoring capabilities in its Sydney data centres. 

IRESS global head of networks Dale Monger said: "We selected the EndaceProbe INR solution to not only consolidate our network visibility tools, but also to ensure our customers’ data is transmitted safely and securely."

The deployment "exceeded expectations" and IRESS now plans to deploy the tools worldwide.

Michael Burt, national sales manager at O2 Networks, told CRN: "O2 Networks is a key integration partner of IRESS providing services for network and security. 

"O2 Networks worked with IRESS to determine that Emulex Endace solution provided the best solution to meet their needs of monitoring, analysing and troubleshooting traffic on their high performance network."

The Endace technology is aimed squarely at top-tier enterprise and government.

Mike Heumann, senior director, marketing, for Endace's parent, Emulex, told CRN that one "box" might be anywhere from USD$75,000-$150,000, and a typical deployment might require five to 10 systems – potentially a multimillion-dollar expenditure.

Case in point: an earlier Endace deployment went into the new ASX data centre.

The Endace technology was actually born in New Zealand as an R&D initiative of the government before being acquired by Emulex in 2012.

It offers two distinct selling points: network security and network monitoring.

While security might seem the sexier selling point, Heumann pointed out that "network performance hits the bottom line".

He told CRN: "Let's say I am introducing VoIP or VDI or SDN: all of those are very dependent on network performance. I have my CEO doing an earnings call and suddenly his VoIP system drops out. He wants to know why. Is someone downloading something down BitTorrent or is the switch malfunctioning?"

In terms of technical detail, IRESS’s initial network visibility solution included the EndaceProbe 7000 INR, which provides the network data capture and recording infrastructure for the visibility solution by delivering continuous 100 percent accurate packet capture and recording in 10/40/100GbE environments, according to the vendor.

"Additionally, the ability of the EndaceProbe INR to provide nanosecond-accurate time stamps for every packet enables the critical network timing analysis that IRESS required to meet client SLAs on trade execution.  IRESS’s initial deployment of the EndaceProbe INR exceeded expectations, and it now plans to deploy the tools worldwide," it said in a statement.

Endace's local partners include O2 Networks, Dimension Data and Gen-i in New Zealand.

O2 Networks was acquired by Telstra on 20 January.