Bandwidth Analyzer

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What Does Bandwidth Analyzer Mean?

A bandwidth analyzer is a type of software that detects, collects, monitors and analyzes network bandwidth data and metrics. It is used by network administrators to view the overall network/Internet bandwidth that a particular network is receiving and sending.

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A bandwidth analyzer can also be called a bandwidth monitor.

Techopedia Explains Bandwidth Analyzer

A bandwidth analyzer is part of network management software. It is usually installed or operates at the network gateway, and records each packet that moves in or out of the network. Typically, a bandwidth analyzer’s key function is to provide the amount/size of data that is downloaded or uploaded and the overall bandwidth being used.

Some enterprise/advanced-level bandwidth analyzers can drill into the details of each network packet and provide performance and security-related data. This can include peak usage time, most-used protocols, active systems, the source and destination IP addresses of each packet and more. Moreover, it can also alert a network administrator when a bandwidth use threshold is reached, and inform the administrator about application/user/system-specific bandwidth use details.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.