Our Charts get an Extreme Makeover

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Tim Higgins

Router Charts

SmallNetBuilder readers can never get enough data and boy, do we have a lot of it! But what we all don’t have a lot of is time. We knew our Charts are a well-used feature, but we also knew they needed to do a better job of letting you drill down to the data you need in a faster and easier way. So we’ve been hard at work redesigning the Charts and hope you like the results.

Router Chart WAN to LAN Throughput

The revamped charts that we’re introducing today not only have a new, fresher look, but new features as well. Here’s a run-through of what’s new:

  • The Product Feature table can now show key features for up to four products in an easier-to-use vertical format. Just check the box to the left of the desired products and click the Compare Checked Products: Product Features link at the top or bottom of the chart.

Router Product Feature Chart

  • The Product Features chart now has a picture of each product and manufacturer website link.
  • The Slideshow icon in the middle column of each chart will link to product slideshows. (Now we just need to get some done!)
  • The Print icon at the top of each chart has been added to make it easy to save the info you want.

You can access the new Router Charts here.

NAS Charts

In addition to the same features described above, the new NAS charts have the following goodies:

  • We’ve moved to a new two-stage system for presenting NAS performance data. The first set of bar charts now show average throughput for an expanded set of measurements and data set.
  • All data is still taken with our iozone-based method using a 64 KB record size, but the average is calculated using 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024 MB file sizes.
  • We’ve expanded the available test data to include RAID 5 and gigabit / gigabit with 4K Jumbo frame LAN tests. (See the screenshot below for the full test list.)

NAS Expanded Test selection

  • You can now see throughput vs. filesize plots for up to six products. Just check the box to the left of the desired products and click the Compare Checked Products: Throughput vs. Filesize link at the top or bottom of the chart.

Throughput vs. filesize NAS Chart

You can access the new NAS Charts here.

As always, we want your feedback. So drop us a line and share your thoughts on the new charts. Enjoy!

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