Nobody likes traffic jams, whether they're driving down the interstate or walking through crowded city streets. But people get really impatient when heavy IP network traffic turns the World Wide Web into the World Wide Wait. That's why AT&T Labs is so committed to creating the next generation network tools that keep information flowing smoothly.

Understanding that effective network management requires effective network measurement tools, AT&T Labs researchers have concentrated on creating the kinds of tools that give network managers the information they need. Tools like Gigascope and Traffic Aggregation Probe (TAP) offer insight into how the network is being used by collecting detailed information on the route of network traffic and the network applications that speed the traffic on its way. BRAVO uses information gathered by Gigascope and TAP, as well as other sources, to determine the most efficient route for data. When things go wrong, FALCON, an IP fault management tool, addresses the problem — creating fixes on the fly. Netdb is a tool that uses existing configuration information on routers and the AT&T's network to gain an advanced view of how a new network feature might work before it is introduced.