A local start-up has showcased a sniffer tool for enterprises that provides real-time traffic information and accountability of resources on a network.
IdeaData's DigiToll product is dubbed as providing 'X-Ray vision' for what is travelling through devices on a network.
Rafi Sabel, IdeaData's managing director, said there is a need for such a tool in today's networked environment. The number of devices (routers, switches, proxy servers) plugged into a network have risen dramatically.
The growth of devices usage is increasing, he said, and there is a lack of control and accountability of the network.
Sabel said DigiToll can identify all the usage patterns within a network. It can also monitor network traffic such as FTP and IP traffic and knows if any protocol is getting "out of kilter".
If there is a change in traffic movements it can alert customers.
The product has already had some adoption with big name local customers including Macquarie Bank and IBM, said Sabel, who was recently showing its wares at an open day at the Australian Technology Park.
DigiToll has three modules: security; performance and accounting which are charged to customers on a per-megabyte basis.
The accounting aspect can provide for cost allocation. Sabel said the software knows what traffic is coming to a network and which department it is going to thereby allowing a company to correct any budget allocations to departments which consume or generate more traffic. "Companies know how that network is used," Sabel said.
The company, which was founded about 10 years ago, has already won recognition for its software. It got a gong at the World Congress on IT in the security and software solutions categories in 2002.