KMAX Network Emulator:

Deliver High-Quality Apps with Confidence

Ensure your app or device works in the cloud, internet, and all network environments prior to deployment

WAN Emulator: Test and Optimize Application Performance with KMAX

KMAX models C, MM, and P from top to bottom

Front view on left; rear view showing interfaces on right

Also available as a Virtual Machine

Test and verify application performance under adverse network conditions with KMAX. Optimize applications and roll out high quality products with confidence.

Choose from 70+ predefined network scenarios & start testing immediately:

  • Subject products & apps to controlled, customizable & repeatable tests

  • Route packets through basic & advanced impairment parameters including: packet drop, delay, jitter, duplication, corruption & rate limiting

  • Incorporate real or simulated network traffic

  • Customize network impairments to exactly match your desired environment

  • Completely characterize your app's network performance with our network simulator

  • Eliminate guesswork & surprises

  • Accelerate time to market

Deliver robust, high quality apps

Software development labs are too fast and too clean unlike real-world networks. KMAX recreates slow, congested and less-than-reliable services encountered by apps and devices in the real world. See how your product will perform in realistic network conditions.

 

Find problems before your users do

Proactively identify and remove product defects prior to release. Poor app performance erodes user confidence and can damage your reputation. Save face, save money and assure success by emulating real-world network conditions in your test lab with KMAX.

Intuitive, responsive, graphical user interface

kmax-dashboard.jpeg

Use the KMAX Network Simulator from any web browser on a tablet or desktop. The Wizard guides you through set up and operation.

  • Point & click the scenario closest to your production environment

  • Fine tune & adjust network impairment parameters

  • Create your own scenario

  • Specify time-varying impairments to your emulation

  • Easily view network emulation statistics in customizable tables & graphs

Library of pre-defined network scenarios

wan-in-lab.png

Examples of pre-defined network scenarios within the KMAX library include:

  • Cross-Atlantic T1 ATM link

  • Low earth orbit satellite

  • Geosynchronous satellite

  • Streaming media over satellite

  • Periodic network downtime

  • Cellular radio handoff

  • VoIP: To remote office via WAN

  • VoIP: multi-way conference over WiFi

  • Connection impairments

  • Failover to backup servers

  • ... and many more!

 
 

Watch our KMAX in two minutes video

The KMAX network emulator lets you test your app or device as if it were in various environments, from LAN to satellite to 5G.

apijet-technologies-squarelogo.png

APiJET's success

APiJET helps airlines improve efficiency by turning planes into Smart Aircraft. To do this, APiJET needs to recreate the communications environment that their clients' aircraft experience during flight.

  • KMAX can accurately emulate the satellite link used by Icelandair, an APiJET customer

  • Using KMAX allowed APiJET to avoid having to install an extremely costly and unnecessary dedicated communications infrastructure just for testing

waveform-graphs.png

Add time-varying impairments to your emulation

Real world networks change their behavior over time. And so should your network emulation scenario.

  • Create a network emulation that varies the impairment parameters over any time period

  • Specify a time-varying expression for any metric, using equations, piecewise curves, or shaped pulses

Network Simulation Streamlined

1e1-graph.png

Scalability & flexibility at your finger tips

KMAX is available in several hardware and software configurations. In addition, the KMAX web server exposes a REST API that provides remote control over all aspects of KMAX including the impairment engine and statistics gathering. Insert the KMAX network simulator directly into your testing pipeline using our reference templates.

  • Plug KMAX into your existing diagnostic tools for custom statistics collection & display

  • Automate KMAX reconfiguration to run different configurations for different tests for overnight testing

  • Add a fully custom user interface by using any scripting language with an HTTP client

delay-node-gui.png

Simulate network latency

KMAX offers many individual parameters for precisely controlling a network simulation. These include: packet drop, packet delay/latency, packet jitter, packet duplication, packet re-ordering, rate limitation, packet corruption. Of these, network latency is of most concern:

  • Simulate network latency / delay via a pre-defined scenario, OR

  • Precisely customize network latency / delay to meet your requirements.

  • Add jitter, reordering, resequencing, queue management, etc.

  • Test any particular network impairment, precisely.

Not sure what you need?

alter-node-corrupt-bits-pkts.png

KMAX is a network simulator

KMAX is a network simulator from the perspective that it uses mathematical models to simulate certain kinds of problematic network conditions.

Academic researchers observe and record large, operational network data sets. From the data sets, the researchers analyze the frequency, duration, and nature of various network anomalies. Based on this information, one can forecast the probability (likelihood of occurrence) of specific network anomalies.

KMAX uses this analysis in scenarios to replicate real-world phenomenon. By utilizing waveforms, KMAX can simulate the network behavior over time, precisely replicating the onset, the duration, and drop off of the network anomaly.

 
blackboard-photo.jpeg

KMAX is a network emulator

KMAX is a network emulator because it imitates the function of another system. It accepts the same packets, transforms them, and send them on its way, in the same way as the system it is emulating. The emulated system could be a low earth orbit satellite or the wireless to 5G handoff between a mobile app and the cloud. KMAX emulates a wide range of network communications systems and emulates them under a wide range of conditions, both favorable and unfavorable.

Actual network traffic and network conversations can be recorded and replayed with fidelity to the problematic traffic conditions. Or KMAX can simply replace the original communications network entity by emulating its performance in the lab.

Statistics chart

Save statistical output for all parameters

Visualize statistics of the network emulation…

Then save the results for further analysis…

CSV output of statistics

Full command line and API support

  • KMAX Python API And Shell Commands Reference Guide

  • KMAX Python API And Shell Commands Hints & Tips & Examples User Guide

  • APIs available for JSON and REST

Compare IWL Network Emulators

Need More Technical Information?

Virtual KMAX

White Papers

  • Understanding How Applications Perform on the Network — Even Under Adverse Network Conditions
    Read More

  • Emulating Mobile/Cellular Networks
    Read More

  • Rate Limitation vs. Bandwidth Limitation
    Read More

  • Causes and Correlation of Network Impairments
    Read More

  • Limitations of ICMP Echo for network measurement
    Read More

  • Network Emulation Executive Overview
    Read More

Use Cases

  • Waveforms in KMAX
    Read More

  • Counting Bits - Measuring Network Data Rates
    Read More

  • Performance Testing an IoT Device
    Read More

  • Network Emulation in the Lab vs. Real World Network Testing
    Read More

  • Five Best Practices to Avoid Data Center Relocation Disaster
    Read More

  • Is Network Latency Affecting Your Business' Cloud Performance?
    Read More

  • Network Emulation in the Lab vs. Real World Network Testing
    Read More

  • Satellite Link Simulator
    Read More

Videos

  • Complete list of KMAX videos: Watch Videos

    The KMAX videos include:

  • KMAX Network Emulator Overview

  • Stress Testing RTP Video Streams with KMAX

  • Emulating 3G & 4G networks with KMAX

  • Testing a Game Streaming Service