cPacket Introduction with Mark Grodzinsky

cPacket’s presence kicked off by revisiting highlights from previous Networking Field Day and Security Field Day events, providing an overview of the evolution of cPacket’s Network Observability platform and introducing AI-driven innovations, framed by their Value Equation and Customer Value Journey frameworks. Mark Grodzinsky, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, emphasized that while AI is currently at a peak of hype, cPacket views it as a tool, not a standalone solution. Their focus is on how AI, integrated within their network observability platform, drives tangible business outcomes. This approach is rooted in their belief that packet data remains the “single source of truth” for understanding the “what, where, when, and why” of network events, even as other telemetry data (metrics, events, logs, traces) serve important purposes.

cPacket’s observability platform has evolved significantly since its 2007 inception, highlighted by its role in the 2012 Olympics’ 10 GBe network. Key components include a packet broker with FPGA on every port for high-precision data delivery, and advanced packet capture and analytics capabilities, supporting up to 200 GBps concurrent write-to-disk with indexing. Their solutions address challenges like microbursts, which cause packet drops even when overall network capacity seems sufficient. Furthermore, cPacket emphasizes the convergence of network and security operations, advocating for a single source of truth–packet data–to enhance both operational efficiency and security posture, aiding in protection, detection, response, digital forensics, and compliance. AI, in this context, serves as a smart companion for setting deterministic thresholds and identifying anomalies proactively.

The company’s core mission is service assurance, achieved through pervasive, independent, open, and scalable observability. Erik Rudin, Field CTO, highlighted the increasing complexity of modern hybrid and multi-cloud environments, stressing the critical need for monitoring key links to ensure mission-critical application performance. cPacket’s solution begins with nanosecond-precision packet acquisition and immediate metric collection, enabling the identification of patterns like microbursts and low-level latency. This rich data is integrated into their own capture devices for session analytics and correlation, and also exposed through open APIs for integration with existing customer tools and data lakes. They introduced the Value Equation, a framework that connects raw data and AI insights to measurable business outcomes, and the Customer Value Journey, which guides customers through understanding their business problems, integrating cPacket’s technology, validating its impact, and achieving continuous improvement in network and security operations.