WildPackets Pushes Into Hardware

After 14 years as a software vendor, network analysis specialist WildPackets has unveiled its first piece of hardware (see WildPackets Upgrades Fault Analysis).

Launched as part of WildPackets new fault analysis platform, the three-rack-unit high Omnipliance runs the vendor’s flagship network analysis software, Peek DNX. Preconfigured with both Peek DNX and Microsoft Corp.’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows 2003, the device signals a change of strategy for WildPackets.

Brant Cooper, WildPackets’ vice president of corporate strategy, believes that, increasingly, companies are looking for "turnkey" data center products that can monitor networking products from a range of vendors. An LCD and keypad on the Omnipliance enable network engineers to enter configuration information such as IP addresses without relying on a keyboard or monitor, according to the Walnut Creek, Calif.-based firm.

”I don’t think that they would have brought out an appliance lightly; it’s obviously a reflection of what their customers are telling them,” says Richard Webb, directing analyst at Infonetics Research Inc.

Webb also thinks that the appliance provides a hint of the company’s future roadmap. “My guess is that this could be their tentative move towards the security space,” he says.”People have already been using their network analysis products for intrusion and detection."

WildPackets has grown at a rapid rate during the last few years, enabling the vendor to broaden its product line. Even Cooper admits that the firm was “a very small business” for the first ten years of its existence. Then, in 2000, the vendor made a key acquisition, purchasing Net3 Group, whose network analysis technology forms the core of all WildPackets’ current software and hardware offerings.

It was at this time that the company broadened its focus to include large enterprises and also expanded its own business. From a payroll of 30 four years ago, the company now numbers 110 employees.

But, despite all this momentum, WildPackets still faces some stiff competition from established vendors. The Omnipliance, in particular, will be up against the Sniffer s6040 device from Network General Corp.

So, will WildPackets be joining the startup funding scrum in an effort to win market share? Not necessarily. “Because we have been successful at making [money], we don’t have to go and get it,” says Cooper.Although he admits that VCs are not part of WildPackets’ strategy at the moment, Cooper was unwilling to completely dismiss the money men: “We’re open to talking to them."

So, who are the people behind WildPackets? The company is headed up by CEO Mahboud Zabetian, who co-founded the firm, which was then known as AG Group, back in 1990. Prior to this, Princeton-educated Zabetian also worked for Novell Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), Kinetics, and Excelan, developing TCP/IP and driver software and designing user interfaces for their Ethernet and Internet connectivity products.

WildPackets’ other founder is Timothy McCreery, who now serves as the company’s executive director. As well as getting WildPackets off the ground, McCreery has also been involved with Clear Ink Corp. and Tut Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: TUTS).

So, what's next for WildPackets? The company will be deploying new wireless technologies and launching a scaled-down, 1U Omnipliance device next year, according to Cooper.

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-Gen Data Center Forum0