Ixia searches for new NPB and security partners

Ixia, which is a rival to Spirent in the network and device testing space, is making a big play in the network packet broker appliance market, and needs new resellers to help it increase sales for its new products.

The network packet broker (NPB) appliance market is said to be worth around $500 million globally at the moment, and the devices allow enterprises and service providers route the right traffic to the correct data analysis tools on networks.

For instance, a network administrator may want to route all voice over IP traffic to a particular tool to inspect data, measure performance, correct faults or help tackle threats. An NPB device allows them to do it.

In addition, Ixia, which only sells indirect, also recently launched its ThreatARMOR appliance, which can be placed at the front of any network to help prevent attacks reaching the network.

Ixia has developed ThreatARMOR by logging known bad sites and IP addresses to stop them reaching users’ networks in the first place. ThreatARMOR stops the data in its tracks and can also be used to prevent traffic from unwanted geographies too.

The banned site list is kept up to date by Ixia’s Application and Threat Intelligence Research Centre. “ThreatARMOR doesn’t use signatures and there are no false positives. Any blocked sites are supported with clear on-screen proof of malicious activity, such as malware distribution or phishing – including dates and even screen shots,” said Ixia.

ThreatARMOR has an entry level list price of $20,000. The company is looking to expand its Ixia Channel Xcelerate Programme, which it launched in 2014, to give ThreatARMOR a big push, along with new NPB devices too.

At the NetEvents IT symposium in Rome this week, Roark Pollock, Ixia vice president solutions marketing, told ChannelBiz: “We are looking for partners in the UK and across Europe for these devices. ThreatARMOR will be popular with network administrators and the security guys as it will cut their load by stopping bad data getting on the network in the first place.”

Prior to Ixia, Pollock served as director of product management in Dell’s networking business unit. The company’s European headquarters are in Maidenhead.

@AntonySavvas