With the growth of IPTV and other IP media streaming technologies, applications for multicast technology are increasing. Live Video broadcasts and VoIP applications are viable uses for real time transmissions over an IP network from a single source to multiple recipients.

Most data transmissions are unicasts, which are a one-to-one data stream sent from one device to another device. Email, web surfing, and file downloads are all examples of unicasts, even for the busiest sites or most downloaded files. Although a single web page may be visited thousands of times each day, each time it is viewed it is individually transmitted to the requestor's PC as a unicast.

In my last two posts on this subject, I've covered some of the basics and tools used to perform packet captures, highlighting the well known software from Wireshark. In this installment, I'm going to show how I used Wireshark packet captures to solve a real network problem.

Those of you wondering about the maximum throughput achieved in our Wireless Chart testing, can wonder no more. We've added a set of Maximum Throughput Benchmark charts to the current set of Average Throughput Charts.

Just go to the Wireless Charts, and use the Select Benchmark dropdown to access the new charts. Enjoy!

Using packet papture software like Wireshark is a useful troubleshooting technique that can be used to examine packets and gather details to help find the root of a problem. In my previous post, I talked a little bit about how to use Wireshark and walked through some steps to run a simple packet capture from a PC. This time, I'm going to go a bit deeper into the how to for doing packet captures.

One of the features I've seen in newer small network routers is the inclusion of a packet sniffer/capture/trace tool within the diagnostic menus of the device. Routers I've recently tested with this functionality include the SonicWall TZ190W, D-Link DFLCPG310, and Netgear's newly released FVX538 and FVS336G.

In each case, these devices have the ability to capture packets on a specific WAN port and/or on the LAN interface. Some of these routers have more sophisticated filtering capabilities than the other, but they all seem to have the same basic functionality of capturing packets.

Digi International today introduced the ConnectPort X2 ZigBee-to-IP Gateway.

The product is a wireless gateway "about the size of a deck of cards" that links ZigBee/802.15.4 device networks with IP networks over Wi-Fi or Ethernet connections. The ConnectPort X2 is available in two configurations: ZigBee-to-Wi-Fi; or ZigBee-to-Ethernet. Both models are housed in industrial-grade metal enclosures.

The ConnectPort X2 features a native Python engine for programmability and also includes the Digi Connectware Manager network management platform which provides a one-to-many interface for network configuration and maintenance.

The ConnectPort X2 ZigBee-to-Ethernet model lists for $199 and the ZigBee-to-Wi-Fi version for $299. Availability was not announced.

The ZigBee Alliance today announced the public availability of the latest version of the ZigBee Specification and the certification of the newest ZigBee Golden Unit platforms which implement the ZigBee PRO Feature Set.

The new Golden Units are available from Ember, Texas Instruments and Airbee Wireless. These units have passed independent testing conducted by NTS Corp. and TUV Rheinland.

The latest ZigBee Specification includes the ZigBee Feature Set and the new ZigBee PRO Feature Set, offering product companies greater flexibility in using ZigBee. It was released exclusively to Alliance members last October.

"Golden Units" are used as a ZigBee quality control mechanism. They are multiple independent implementations proving a Specification revision and demonstrating interoperability for future ZigBee products.

Wireless networks secured by WPA / WPA2 can be cracked. But it's not as easy as cracking WEP.