R&S®Probe Observer

Ready-to-use network analytics suite
for high-performance network monitoring

High-performance network monitoring with R&S®Probe Observer

R&S®Probe Observer is a turnkey traffic analytics solution that extracts data from a passive copy of live network traffic, ensuring integrity, security and peak performance of networks. This solution by ipoque is designed to delve deeper than traditional monitoring tools, detecting deviations in Quality of Service (QoS) in real-time, optimize bandwidth usage and fortify security, making it an essential tool for Communication service providers (CSPs) to improve their network’s efficiency.

By proactively detecting and resolving network issues, CSPs can take control of their network, streamlining operations and driving business success. The flexibility and adaptability of R&S®Probe Observer to different deployment situations and customer requirements make it easy for CSPs to extract all the insights they need, even when dealing with highly specific implementation.

Featuring the technologically leading VPP DPI engine R&S®vPACE and advanced real-time packet processing, R&S®Probe Observer offers high-quality information about network traffic, subscriber sessions and network metadata. Discover the unseen, resolve issues before they escalate, and transform your network management with unparalleled visibility.

Product brochure R&S®Probe Observer

R&S®Probe Observer at a glance

The R&S®Probe Observer is equipped with powerful features enabling you to see beyond the surface and proactively resolve issues before they become critical:

Highly performant: With R&S®vPACE at its core, the solution processes network traffic at near‑wire speeds with low resource demands.
Live processing: Analyze network traffic in real time to gain insights into your network’s performance.
High accuracy and reliability: Identify IP traffic with virtually no false positives.
Encrypted traffic intelligence: Benefit from advanced machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques to also classify traffic when it’s encrypted.
Analytics and reporting: Utilize a data analysis and high-performance network monitoring frontend, and see network KPIs, such as QoS at a glance and aggregate information per subscriber.

Management: Manage and configure the components of your R&S®Probe Observer with a central interface.
Dashboards: Create customizable dashboards to get an overview of the most important metrics. Manage and share them to align with your business needs and stakeholders.
Flow enrichment: Additional metadata relating directly to the raw network data to perform a more effective analysis, such as geolocation lookups.
Subscriber visibility: Effective resolving and mapping of subscriber-based traffic behavior provides valuable insights into usage patterns. Anonymized views protect subscriber privacy while still delivering comprehensive analytics. Optimize your network performance and tailor your services to meet user needs.

Use cases of R&S®Probe Observer

Align R&S®Probe Observer with your specific needs and delve deeper than traditional monitoring tools:

Traffic analytics and monitoring
Gain real-time insights into network usage and use network KPIs to support your decisions. Use historical data to identify changes in network usage and behavior. Find network optimizations and improve capacity planning.
Network testing and performance management
Monitor bandwidths and use protocol-specific network performance indicators, such as latency, jitter and TCP statistics for data-driven decisions.
Network/App performance monitoring
Provide detailed insights to pinpoint the root cause of performance issues, reducing mean time to detect (MTTD) and mean time to resolve (MTTR).

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Benefits of buying our cutting-edge network probe solution

Open interfaces help to integrate R&S®Probe Observer seamlessly into your environment.
Analyze network traffic in real time to gain insights into your network’s performance.
Optimize your network performance and tailor your services to meet user needs.
Create customizable dashboards to get an overview of the most important metrics.
Rely on sustainable technical support with continous optimization and maintenance.
See network KPIs, such as QoS at a glance and aggregate information per subscriber.

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Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Find the answers to most common questions.

What kind of data do network analytics probes collect?

Network analytics probes collect network traffic data at packet or flow level, e. g. NetFlow, sFlow and IPFIX, including information such as IP addresses, ports, protocols, latency, packet losses, and bandwidth. Depending on the vendor, network probes can also perform Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to identify application data.

Are network analytics probes passive, or do they impact network traffic?

Most network analytics probes are passive, capturing data via SPAN/mirror ports or network TAPs, so they do not impact live traffic. However, there are also active probes, which send specific test packets to measure network performance.

How is the network analytics probes’ scalability and long-term viability ensured?

To scale with increasing data volumes, network probes can be scaled both horizontally and vertically. Additionally, regular software updates, support for new protocols, and integrations with AI/ML models for enhanced protocol detection are offered.

How do network analytics probes integrate with existing network management or SIEM systems?

Network analytics probes typically support standard protocols and formats such as SNMP, Syslog, REST APIs, or Kafka, allowing for seamless integration into network monitoring systems (e. g. SolarWinds, PRTG) or SIEMs (e. g. Splunk, QRadar). Data can often also be automatically processed via APIs or exports.

What network topologies and speeds are supported?

Common probes support a range of network speeds (1 G, 10 G, 40 G, 100 G+) and are compatible with different network topologies, from traditional data centers to SDN/NFV environments. The ability of the probe to handle the existing data volume and format is essential.