Finisars new GTX Protocol Analyzer shows that the convergence of IP and storage has finally hit the tool belt of IT managers.
Merging Finisars extremely popular Fibre Channel analyzer with Ethernet analyzing capabilities (from Finisars recent acquisition of Shomiti) and new tools for iSCSI protocol analysis, GTX Protocol Analyzer 4.0, which began shipping earlier this month, has shown itself to be the new leader of the analysis tools pack.
In a brief demo at eWeek Labs, I was impressed with all the capabilities Finisar was able to pack into the GTX Protocol Analyzer. The device can capture data streams at both 1GB- and 2GB-per-second-clock rates and can hold up to 2GB of trace memory. This will come in handy when complex trouble-shooting is needed.
The GTX Protocol Analyzer with Fibre Channel host bus adapters is approximately $40,000, while the analyzer with both IP and Fibre Channel analysis capabilities costs roughly $70,000. These prices are approximate because options such as additional host bus adapters can significantly alter them.
Obviously, at this price, this is not an analyzer for mere mortals. But if you want to be on the cutting edge of technology, this analyzer is a must-have tool.