News
Napatech launched the NTBPE Optical Bypass Adapter
June 2009 by Marc Jacob
Napatech launched the NTBPE Optical Bypass Adapter; an intelligent bypass and failover solution for In-line network appliances. The NTBPE provides a unique alternative to traditional in-line failover solutions, by also allowing intelligent upgrades of network appliance functionality without disrupting network connectivity.
The NTBPE is a stand-alone adapter providing support for up to 4 network ports of either 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps bandwidth and two Napatech In-line adapters. With the NTBPE, Napatech In-line adapters can support applications for in-line network monitoring, network measurement or network security on two network connections with full 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps throughput. In the event of a failure on the network adapters or on the supporting server, the NTBPE will automatically perform a switch to a bypass path, which allows the network connections to continue without disruption.
The switch to a bypass path can also be initiated on command via software. This allows Napatech adapters to be inserted or removed from a network connection without disrupting network connectivity or requiring the network appliance to be shut down. As Napatech network adapter features can be upgraded using a software download, new features can be introduced to the network appliance without disrupting traffic, by simply performing a bypass switchover, upgrading the network adapter and then performing a switch back to normal mode.
The NTBPE Optical Bypass Adapter is designed to fit into standard PCI-Express slots in standard servers and is provided with a software suite for ease of integration supporting Linux and FreeBSD.
