Fluke acquires Crannog

Deal will help firms better manage network performance

Fluke Networks has acquired network monitoring software vendor Crannog Software for an undisclosed sum.

Crannog’s main product is NetFlow Tracker, a software tool used to capture and analyse NetFlow and IP Flow Information Export (Ipfix) traffic data, in order to understand client, server and application activity relationships. NetFlow is a Cisco protocol used by its Internetwork Operating System (IOS) to get IP traffic data.

“The acquisition of Crannog Software will better equip our customers to manage application, VoIP and network performance across the LAN, WAN and multi-tiered server environments,” said Fluke Networks’ senior marketing vice-president, Jeff Lime.

According to Crannog, the key benefits of NetFlow Tracker are its ability to obtain network traffic statistics without recourse to probes or appliance-based systems; its ability to perform deep packet inspection; and its network forensics, troubleshooting and reporting capabilities.

Other switch manufacturers such as Huawei and Juniper have also implemented NetFlow-like protocols, although there is a rival technology called sFlow. SFlow has similar functions but is hardware-based technology rather than software-based like NetFlow, and is currently not as widespread.