Cloud computing is opening up a variety of new fields, and opening up many old ones to the concept of remote working. While many employees relish the thought of being able to carry out their jobs from home offices, no longer bound to an expensive, time-consuming and emotionally draining commute and the vagaries of office politics, some tasks were thought impossible to do remotely, like certain IT functions. But that's where Plixer's Scrutinizer would beg to differ.

Plixer, operating out of Sanford, Maine, specializes in network traffic analysis, backed up by both IPFIX and NetFlow exporters alike. Though there's quite a bit of traffic already in that market, from NetScout (News - Alert), Riverbed, Fluke and plenty of others, Plixer's Scrutinizer offers some significant advantages over its competitors.

Plixer's Scrutinizer is a flow capture tool, geared to allow users to analyze network data, and with that analysis, not only locate but get a better idea of how to fix any problems that may emerge. Plixer even works with its customers to ensure that the correct data is being captured and analyzed in the first place, providing custom reports to give each particular client the best chance at getting the most out of the data collected.

The focus that Plixer has put on NetFlow--and more recently, IPFIX--distinguishes it in the market, and gives them a special edge in to the fields of threat detection, deep application awareness and forensic response technology. This is a response to the growing perception that connections that are overly full will eventually slow, which in turn prompts companies to buy more equipment, and more bandwidth, to get the speed that they need. Given the sheer number of applications out there vying for bandwidth, it's not out of line to think that. But there's a better way, a way that allows companies to better use the bandwidth they already have. Scrutinizer can even provide a bit of extra help for companies looking to embrace the BYOD--Bring Your Own Device--philosophy that's becoming a lot more prevalent these days.

Making better use of the things that businesses already have, while bringing the potential for new ones into the mix as well, is a recipe for big improvements in general. Improving the quality of bandwidth and introducing the capability for BYOD makes two important reasons, among plenty of others, why having Plixer Scrutinizer on hand is a smart idea for small businesses especially. They're not the only ones, of course, and many other enterprises--large and not-for-profit alike--will find advantages with Plixer as well.