COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — NetAlly announces the release of EtherScope nXG Portable Network Expert, a handheld network tester that enables network engineers and technicians to quickly discover, test, verify and troubleshoot enterprise access networks.
Said to be the first handheld tool to offer a single user interface (UI) that fully integrates both wired and wireless network test data, the EtherScope nXG increases network visibility, accelerates and simplifies testing and simplifies team collaboration, according to the announcement.
The company states the portable tool allows users to easily identify wireless clients not just by MAC address, but by IP, name and type.
“As today’s networks continue to grow in complexity, network teams often struggle to keep pace. They need better solutions that help streamline their network testing and troubleshooting process,” says NetAlly CEO Mike Parrottino. “To help address these challenges, we designed EtherScope nXG to be the most comprehensive and powerful portable network tester available.”
EtherScope nXG’s all new UI combines wired and wireless data analysis and purpose-built hardware to support a broad range of technologies like line-rate 10G (over copper and fiber), NBASE-T, Wi-Fi 5/Wi-Fi 6, and high-power PoE (Power over Ethernet).
Parrottino continues, “With EtherScope nXG’s advanced out-of-the-box auto-testing capabilities, network engineers and technicians get unprecedented visibility that accelerates testing and drives collaboration, all in a truly portable, light weight tool that can easily be brought to problem areas. With it, teams will simply get more done, faster.”
The announcement cites a recent Spiceworks survey that found IT professionals face a variety of challenges that include implementing planned changes, managing unexpected changes, ensuring network security and a lack of time and resources. These challenges are caused primarily by the disparity in staff skills and toolsets (between engineers and technicians), and visibility gaps across wired and wireless networks.
The company bills the EtherScope nXG as being designed to overcome these issues with key features and capabilities that include:
- Users can assess support for NBASE-T, 10G, Wi-Fi 5/Wi-Fi 6, with advanced Android-based troubleshooting apps and purpose-built test hardware. Additional test capabilities include packet capture at line-rate to 10G, network discovery and path analysis, 24-hour RF traffic analysis, cable testing, and PoE TruePower load testing.
- The product offers 10G line-rate performance testing for critical servers, uplinks and key end devices over Ethernet, iPerf testing over Wi-Fi or wired links, and testing against another EtherScope nXG or other NetAlly tools for end-to-end tests.
- Users can dive deep to verify, troubleshoot and document complex networks with multiple VLANs and Wi-Fi SSIDs, or take advantage of out-of-the-box AutoTests that require minimal skill and training. Through the EtherScope nXG, offsite engineers can extend their expertise via remote control to collaborate with technicians at distant sites to solve tough problems without the need for travel.
- With Wi-Fi air quality tests for over-subscribed channels, Wi-Fi channel utilization analysis, and network discovery, EtherScope nXG can help “prove it’s not the network” or pinpoint root cause faster than other non-integrated methods.
- EtherScope nXG’s network discovery technology identifies unknown switches, hidden SSIDs and probing Wi-Fi devices, while categorizing devices by security status, detecting rogues and more.
- Users can utilize automated and centralized reporting and analysis, documentation and integration with network management systems via NetAlly’s complimentary Link-Live cloud service.
“NetAlly continues a long history of putting ever more troubleshooting power in the palm of your hand with EtherScope nXG,” says Lee Badman, wireless network architect at Wirednot. “It’s not easy finding a tool that goes deep enough for senior engineers and developers, while also being junior technician-friendly, but EtherScope hits that sweet spot effectively.”
