Faster, faster, and even faster, that is the expectation among IT users. In response, Paessler boosted the performance of PRTG, its network monitoring solution, by 300 percent.Unlike most suppliers, the vendor built its own special purpose database management system, which accesses log files, ToDos and Toplist. In addition, its ping and port sensors have been optimized for better performance.

The new release also includes auto-discovery templates that work with three new sensor types: DHCP servers, VMware discs, and traffic flows over jFlow-capable devices. As a result, the network monitoring solution, whose price starts at $400, gauges the performance of Cisco, HP, and Juniper equipment.

In business since 1997, Paessler has carved out a viable niche in the network monitoring space. The company, which is privately held and based in Nuremberg, claims to have sold more than 50,000 software licenses accounting for more than 150,000 active installations worldwide. In September, the company announced version 8, which includes fail-over clustering, a redesigned web interface, and native Linux monitoring. This new release was designed to maintain its momentum in a market that is growing and therefore attracting more competition.