U.S. Agency Improves Network Agility and Further Secures R&D Environment with NETSCOUT PFS Technology

Customer Company Size
Large Corporate
Region
- America
Country
- United States
Product
- nGenius® 6000 series packet flow switch chassis
- PFS 6000 line cards
Tech Stack
- Network Packet Conditioning
- Cybersecurity Tools
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
Technology Category
- Networks & Connectivity - Network Management & Analysis Software
Applicable Industries
- National Security & Defense
Use Cases
- Cybersecurity
Services
- System Integration
- Hardware Design & Engineering Services
About The Customer
The customer is a U.S. Government Agency focused on research & development (R&D) activities. Their work is aimed at introducing scientific solutions that enhance the safety and environment of the country and its citizens. The agency's Network team is tasked with maintaining highly secure data center, computing, and campus environments with near-zero network performance latencies. Given the nature of the agency’s work, they are a frequent target of cyberattacks. Maintaining high security is mission-critical for this agency, and for years their security assurance solution had benefited from NETSCOUT® packet flow switch (PFS) technology providing advanced packet slicing and active inline security functionality in their network environment.
The Challenge
The U.S. Government Agency, focused on research & development (R&D) activities, was facing challenges with their network upgrade to 100G speeds. Their existing packet flow switches and downstream monitoring devices were not equipped to handle these new speeds and higher traffic volumes. The agency was also using 200G uplinks/ports, and the Network team had new, associated packet conditioning requirements involving de-duplication and packet slicing. All these changes were occurring in a network environment where the slightest network latency is an issue – even 1 millisecond delays are unacceptable to this agency. The agency needed a technology refresh to handle increased network speeds and advanced packet conditioning requirements.
The Solution
The agency decided to address their 100G network upgrade and next-generation network packet conditioning specifications by deploying a NETSCOUT nGenius 6000 series packet flow switch (PFS) chassis in their computing data center, with hot-swappable PFS 6000 line cards supporting 40 x 1Gb/10Gb port and 6 x 100Gb QSFP28 port coverage, respectively. This solution enables the Network team to bridge the gap in their transformative 1G, 10G, 40G, and 100G network and expanded cybersecurity tool environment, while assuring flawless network performance. The solution supports aggregation of 10/100G speed network taps, with the ability to then forward high-value network packet data to their in-place existing cybersecurity and IT tools. It also provides conditional packet slicing functionality for 64 kbps, which was a critically required feature, and packet de-duplication.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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