High-traffic networks, such as those in the service provider or telco space, long have had their own unique requirements due to the sheer amount of bandwidth they run. The “4” in 4G is the result of millions of dollars spent by service providers to upgrade their network in support of the heavier workloads brought on by our increasingly robust mobile devices.

Gigamon, a provider of networking equipment for these high-traffic networks, sees major opportunities for the channel as the need to upgrade networks in the enterprise and beyond becomes a higher priority. The company, which prides itself on being 100 percent channel-centric, believes its channel program and its technology will help set it apart among its competitors as it jockeys for mindshare in the networking space. Its latest offering – the GigaVUE HD8 – shows it is serious.

The GigaVUE-HD8 intelligent data access switch replicates and filters network traffic to monitoring and security tools at speeds of 1G and10G, and is designed to step up to even greater speeds as they become more widely used.

“The GigaVUE HD8 is larger than anything we’ve ever put out before,” said Mike Valladeo, product manager at Gigamon. “Our past port count was about 24 – this has density up to 384 ports total,” in eight blades that provide 96 10G and 32 1G ports, or 352 1G and 32 10G ports in the maximum configurations.

“What’s also unique is the GigaVUE HD8 has a backplane capable of breaking the Terabit barrier. Our closest competition has a 40 G backplane. That means the amount of data that can go from any blade to any blade is increased – our full non-blocking architecture can make full use of the Terabit backplane.”

Gigamon plans to debut the GigaVUE HD8 at Interop May 8-12 in Las Vegas.

Gigamon’s GigaVUE family takes data from all ports on the network – including SPAN, VoIP, packet capture and IDS – and acts as an “intelligent data traffic cop,” said Jim Berkman, director of marketing at Gigamon. The appliance sits between the network and the data center – or “tool farm,” as Gigamon calls it – to provide a complete view of the network.

For channel partners with customers that have high-port, high-density network considerations, the GigaVUE HD8 is an appliance that can answer the call for easier, consolidated network management solutions. Gigamon’s channel partner program offers VARs peace of mind through deal registration and the knowledge that Gigamon will do what it takes to ensure its partners make money,” said Mike Hoffman, vice president of sales for North America.

“In the history of our company we have never pulled a deal from a VAR,” Hoffman said. “Even in the deepest discount for a deal we ever had to do, we still left points in for the VAR.”

Gigamon works through master distributor Interlink in North America and South America, and through ComputerLinks in EMEA. Hoffman points out that its channel program is structured so its partners are well-compensated for their work.

“The margins are amazing for our VARs,” he said. “One of our top partners in Q3 of 2010 had already done $15 million, and his average margin was 21.3 percent.

“Our competitors have channel programs that suit their needs when they decide to use them. We have a true channel program,” Hoffman continued. “Part of the reason why our partners are so successful is our product quality – our install base is in millions of dollars with products running for five years and never has a product been turned off or RMA’d.”

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