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How NetFlow Keeps Networks Running, People Alive: Page 2 of 2

Puget Sound Blood Center has seen network uptime improve since introducing NetFlow, Rosario says: "On our old system we always had to react to a situation. Now our help desk can see that the system is running slow, then they can proactively look up that information and alert the folks who can start solving the issue."

The problem was different at Grafisch Lyceum-Rotterdam (GSR), a university in the Netherlands. The university was hampered by existing firewall technology and an embedded intrusion detection and intrusion prevention system (IDS/IPS) that could only inspect a portion of network traffic and did not provide visibility into the school's high-speed internal and virtual network. Using Lancope's StealthWatch NetFlow technology, GSR gained wider visibility into its Internet gateway traffic and the internal and virtual network. GSR also reported faster time to resolution for network problems and a 75% cost savings compared to what it had before.

For AirTran Airways, the network challenge was maintaining Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance across a widely distributed network serving about 10,000 end users. Because it's billed as a low-cost airline, AirTran needed a cost-effective and scalable network monitoring system to enable employees to take credit cards from wherever possible--at any gate, ticket counter or kiosk. Its deployment of StealthWatch enabled the airline to improve PCI compliance, increase network visibility, and better identify and address anomalies to improve network security.

A recent Lancope-sponsored study by Enterprise Management Associates found that the most popular current uses of flow data are traffic monitoring (76%) and security monitoring (61%). Other key findings include: 47% of respondents leverage flow data for understanding services consumption; 46% use flow data for planning/engineering; 96% say they expect to maintain or expand their use of flow data during the next 12 to 18 months; and NetFlow is the most popular type of flow data, used by 70% of respondents.

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