November 14, 2006 -- Fluke Networks has released new capabilities for its EtherScope Series II Network Assistant. The company says the instrument's new "security scan" and "locate" features reduce the time required to locate rogue WLAN devices by 75%, as measured by the time spent on the same task using an omni-directional antenna found on most PC radio cards.
Further, the company says the tool's advanced "WLAN locate" feature employs an external, directional antenna to quickly identify and pinpoint the location of unauthorized wireless access points. This includes access points placed in ceilings and in multi-floor environments. Combined with the EtherScope's handheld, lightweight package and easy-to-read, color touch-screen display, the new features allow users to find rogue access points more quickly and easily than before, says the company.
Also new to the EtherScope platform is the ability to test the performance of LAN and WAN links using commonly accepted RFC 2544 test procedures. The tool now incorporates RFC 2544 tests for measuring throughput, latency and frame loss; these tests are bundled together with the platform's current Internetwork Throughput Option and traffic generator.
According to Fluke, with these new capabilities, private network owners and service providers now can perform a fast, easy and RFC-based means of verifying network performance. Carriers can document the performance levels delivered to their customers; private network owners can verify the bandwidth received matches that which was purchased.
Concurrent with the new RFC 2544 tests and WLAN locate abilities, Fluke says its EtherScope platform now also supports Russian as a user-selectable language. The tool now displays its user interface, all desktop applications on the unit, report headers, and help screens in 8 different languages (English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian), to reflect "the truly worldwide nature of networking," according to Fluke.
The RFC 2544/ITO tests and WLAN analysis, including the directional locate feature, are available as options. Current EtherScope owners can purchase these options as upgrades. More details can be found at www.flukenetworks.com/etherscope.
