Your mileage may vary

I have probably written about this before, but my frustration just continues.  Doing some research into the bandwidth capacity versus price in the IPS market.  I don't understand why we let this circus continue.  What does 1Gbps mean to you?  How about 2 or 4 Gbps. It could mean unidirectional only or it could be bi-directional.  It could mean only certain kinds of traffic like http (a recent announcement of 6 Gbps snort on standard hardware seems to be only http traffic). It could mean only tiny packets with no large packets.  In fact it could mean anything at all. 

I know NSS tests IPS, but do they test the throughput claims of vendors?  We need standards so that apple to apple comparisons are possible.  No matter what car you buy, 60 MPH is 60 MPH.  We need similar standards in IPS!