Technologies like switching, Fast Ethernet, full-duplex connections and VLANs have provided welcome relief to bandwidth-starved enterprise networks. Unfortunately, along with these technologies have come new challenges when it comes to troubleshooting. The good news is that Hewlett-Packard Co. has all the answers with its HP Internet Advisor.

Internet Advisor can troubleshoot Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet and ATM at the 0C-3 level. To include one of these technologies, you install a corresponding "undercradle" to the portable PC that runs the user interface. The Fast Ethernet undercradle comes with its own processor that can handle 10-Mbps or 100-Mbps Ethernet. It also has two built-in RJ-45 ports that make it a cinch to tap into any full-duplex connection. If you have a Cisco VLAN (virtual LAN) trunk on the connection, Internet Advisor will summarize the utilization by VLAN and by protocol. It can also decode all the packets traversing the trunk.

The HP analyzer also comes with a set of "expert" troubleshooting tools that can save you time when diagnosing common network problems. The tools track and point out common symptoms of problems from the physical layer on up. And context-sensitive help is always a click away.

HP Internet Advisor, $12,500 to $50,000,
Hewlett-Packard Co.,
(800) 452-4844.
www.hp.com/go/internetadvisor