Packet Analyzer Platform

Data visualization app for complex network engineering logic built with React, Rails, and Angular

The company and product

The Packet Analyzer Platform is a data visualization Web application used by networking engineers for monitoring and troubleshooting purposes.

Network engineering logic is highly complex in its nature. Engineers who monitor network performance encounter multiple problems. One of them is diving into a sea of complex data which is hard to comprehend and takes much time to process. This industry is also demanding in terms of security- and privacy-related matters.

What’s key to this platform’s functioning is a solid UX/UI and tools allowing for visualizing data in an accessible way. The Packet Analyzer Platform currently sells a user-friendly product to companies in the financial market across the globe.

The Challenge

Security and privacy at the forefront.

The client's team was focused primarily on core logic engine implementation and the challenge was building a solid frontend with a user-friendly interface and visualizing data in an accessible way.

Security- and privacy-related matters became the starting point for the whole process which was run in a client’s specific business model. Collaborating with the client’s in-house team responsible for API implementation was recommended and helped get deep into the highly complex internal logic of network engineering.

Key challenges of the project included:

Pre-planned releases always on time.
Clear interactive process consisting of workshops, architecture enhancements, and design, and numerous on-site meetings.
Agile methodologies to approach business which made delivering under tight deadlines possible.

Client’s feedback

Packet Analyzer

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

A better product

Monterail continued to dig in, ask questions, and do what a good consultancy is supposed to do — namely, dig deep into the customer's needs. As a consequence of this, we're getting a better product.

The Process

At the outset, the most important part of the project was the UX strategy and design.

Researching ways in which engineers could monitor network performance with ease was the basis for further work. The product is not available on the Web and has to be deployed locally for each client, so there was no option for releasing updates whenever they’re available so release dates were planned in advance.

The team working on the first release consisted of one designer and three developers—since then it’s grown to fifteen people.

Our core efforts at this stage included:

Pre-planned releases always on time.
Clear interactive process consisting of workshops, architecture enhancements, and design, and numerous on-site meetings.
Agile methodologies to approach business which made delivering under tight deadlines possible.

Team’s voice

Darya Stepanyan

PROJECT MANAGER

Source of new solutions

The best thing (and the hardest!) is that the ever-growing scale and complexity of the project always force us to find new technologies, processes, and solutions. Many of which we later apply company-wide.

The Outcome

After a period of collaboration spanning over two years, our client received a working version of the web application that they now sell to companies across the globe.

The UX/UI of the application has been significantly improved and helps network engineers quickly visualize data and troubleshoot problems.

Having a ready-to-sell product that was already in use by the financial market, we started to think about further development. The Packet Analyzer was handed a development plan for one year into the future filled with lots of great ideas for upcoming releases.

The success of this project hinged on the following factors:

Improved usability and data visualization methods.
A solid team of fifteen people working towards accomplishing one common goal.
Commitment to learning about and understanding the complex engineering problems.