WireShark- one of the best network protocol analyzer

Today I came to know one of the best network protocl analyzer called : wireshark.

According to it’s site :

Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto (and often de jure) standard across many industries and educational institutions.

Features

Wireshark has a rich feature set which includes the following:

• Deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, with more being added all the time
• Live capture and offline analysis
• Standard three-pane packet browser
• Multi-platform: Runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and many others
• Captured network data can be browsed via a GUI, or via the TTY-mode TShark utility
• The most powerful display filters in the industry
• Rich VoIP analysis
• Read/write many different capture file formats: tcpdump (libpcap), Pcap NG, Catapult DCT2000, Cisco Secure IDS iplog, Microsoft Network Monitor, Network General Sniffer® (compressed and uncompressed), Sniffer® Pro, and NetXray®, Network Instruments Observer, NetScreen snoop, Novell LANalyzer, RADCOM WAN/LAN Analyzer, Shomiti/Finisar Surveyor, Tektronix K12xx, Visual Networks Visual UpTime, WildPackets EtherPeek/TokenPeek/AiroPeek, and many others
• Capture files compressed with gzip can be decompressed on the fly
• Live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others (depending on your platform)
• Decryption support for many protocols, including IPsec, ISAKMP, Kerberos, SNMPv3, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2
• Coloring rules can be applied to the packet list for quick, intuitive analysis
• Output can be exported to XML, PostScript®, CSV, or plain text

 

Get the Software from this site: http://www.wireshark.org

VNL, an Indian company, aims to bring solar-powered phone networks to villages

These cellular stations, which use only about 50 to 120 Watts of power which is low enough to be powered using solar cells and battery. With this low power consumption and the fact that they can be made self contained wireless units which needn't be connected to a grid, the technology is perfect for remote villages where it is difficult to bring connectivity by wired means or using conventional cellular towers.



A single such station would be capable of handling hundreds of users, and needs just two people to set it up. The station can be assembled and mounted on a roof top in the short span of six hours. This small station and others nearby can communicate with a base station withing 5kms (which itself is solar powered). The base station can then communicate with the main network.


The problem with traditional systems is, not only the fact that they need large amounts of power which necessitate the presence of a power grid, but also the cost involved. Traditional systems need customers to spend as much as Rs. 250 to Rs. 300 per month on average to make a profit, which is hard to get in rural areas. Thus their reluctance to provide coverage in such areas. VNL's system requires only as much as Rs. 90 to Rs. 100 per month per person on average from their customers to make a profit.

Currently as many as 50 such stations have been deployed in villages in Rajasthan and there are plans to introduce the technology in Africa. The systems deployed in Rajasthan are voice only, and dont support text or data, as most end users in those areas are cannot read or write.


It is nice to see such an innovation coming from India, and the fact that it can bring voice connectivity to the millions of people in India who are currently without any means of communication is heartening as well.

Read more here: http://www.thinkdigit.com/Mobiles-and-PDAs/VNL-an-Indian-company-aims-to-bring_4027.html