Shomiti Systems

Shomiti Systems, Inc. operated as a specialized designer and provider of network performance measurement products. The company was established in August 1995 and was headquartered in San Jose, CA. It was founded by a team of veterans from the LAN switch industry who identified a gap in the market for adequate management products for high-speed Ethernet networks. The founding team included individuals such as William Shaw, who served as President and CEO, Ed Lamb as CFO, and Som Sikdar and Douglas Leone as directors.

The firm focused on the distributed analysis, testing, and monitoring of mission-critical 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet networks. Shomiti's business model revolved around providing integrated software and hardware solutions to enterprise customers globally. Revenue was generated through the sale of its products, facilitated by a worldwide network of OEMs, distributors, and resellers. The company's target market was enterprises grappling with the performance management of fast LANs, which conventional management devices were not equipped to handle. Key investors in the company included Sequoia Capital and Silver Creek Ventures. Eventually, Shomiti Systems was acquired by Finisar.

Shomiti's main offering was the Surveyor Product Suite, a collection of unified software and hardware products. This suite was designed with a consistent and intuitive Windows-based user interface. A notable feature was its use of patented, silicon-accelerated hardware technologies, a principle borrowed from LAN switch design, to deliver high performance and accuracy in network monitoring. One of the applications within the suite was Multi-QoS, a plug-in for Surveyor 3.0 that monitored and analyzed voice traffic over Ethernet-based IP networks. This tool could capture and decode various protocols like H.323, SIP, and MGCP, and reported on over 30 Quality of Service metrics.

Keywords: network performance, ethernet networks, distributed analysis, network testing, network monitoring, Gigabit Ethernet, LAN switch, network management software, Surveyor Product Suite, silicon accelerated hardware, network analysis, voice-over-IP, QoS, Finisar acquisition, Sequoia Capital, Silver Creek Ventures, enterprise network solutions, network hardware, network software, IT infrastructure monitoring