Network traffic analysis provides deep visibility into who is communicating with what, using which applications, and consuming how much bandwidth — enabling capacity planning, security investigation, application performance troubleshooting, and policy compliance verification.
Interface utilization monitoring tells you how full a pipe is; traffic analysis tells you what's filling it. Flow data and deep packet inspection are essential for security investigations, bandwidth cost optimization, and diagnosing application performance problems that ping and SNMP can't explain.
A structured advisory process — from discovery and market evaluation to vendor selection and post-deployment optimization — tailored to your specific environment and objectives.
We define your traffic analysis requirements — security investigation, capacity planning, application performance, compliance monitoring — and the data sources (NetFlow, sFlow, IPFIX, packet capture) that satisfy each use case.
We evaluate traffic analysis platforms — Kentik, SolarWinds NTA, Darktrace, ExtraHop, and open-source alternatives — against your flow data volumes, analysis depth requirements, and security investigation needs.
Traffic analysis requires flow or packet data from the right collection points. We design the collection architecture — NetFlow export from routers and switches, TAP placement for packet capture, cloud flow log aggregation.
Traffic analysis delivers maximum value when normal behavior is defined and deviations from normal are detected automatically. We design the baselining approach and anomaly detection configuration.
These are the dimensions that consistently separate successful network deployments from costly ones — and the questions RLM will help you answer before any commitment.
NetFlow/IPFIX provides conversation-level visibility at scale; packet capture provides full content visibility but requires significant storage. Evaluate which data type is appropriate for your analysis requirements.
Encrypted traffic (TLS/HTTPS) limits application identification based on content. Evaluate the platform's encrypted traffic analysis capabilities — JA3 fingerprinting, certificate analysis, and traffic behavior analysis.
Traditional flow analysis covers on-premises networks. Evaluate VPC flow log collection, cloud load balancer access logs, and the integration between cloud and on-premises traffic data for end-to-end visibility.
Security investigations often require months of historical traffic data. Evaluate data retention capacity and cost against your investigation timeline requirements.
Security response requires real-time analysis; capacity planning requires historical trending. Evaluate whether the platform provides the real-time streaming analysis needed for security alongside the long-term trending needed for operations.
Traffic analysis data is most valuable when correlated with security events. Evaluate the SIEM integration quality and the alert data model that enriches security investigations with network context.
"RLM gave us an objective view of our network options that no single vendor could. We replaced aging MPLS across 40 locations and came in 28% under our original budget."
"The RLM team understood our network complexity from day one. Their vendor-neutral approach helped us find the right solution — not just the one with the biggest marketing budget."
Start with a no-cost conversation with an RLM network advisor — vendor neutral, no agenda, just clarity on the right path forward for your environment.
Speak to a Network Advisor