In today’s hyper-connected world, the performance and reliability of network infrastructure are more critical than ever. Enterprises and service providers rely on high-performance network appliances—such as Carrier-Grade NATs (CGNs), Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs), DDoS mitigation systems, Server Load Balancers (SLBs), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) Gateways and Secure Web Gateways (SWG)—to keep digital services secure, responsive, and always available.
Before these devices reach customers, they must undergo rigorous validation to ensure they can handle real-world traffic volumes and attack scenarios at scale. That’s where deep domain expertise, advanced tooling, and a scalable test strategy become essential.
At Incedo, we specialize in helping organizations validate and optimize their networking and security appliances through robust performance, scale, and stress testing. Leveraging a combination of open-source and custom-developed frameworks, our team ensures that your devices are ready for production—from physical interface (L1) all the way up to encrypted application-layer traffic (L7).
This whitepaper presents insights from our experience in designing and executing large-scale test environments using open-source traffic generators like Cisco TRex, powered by DPDK on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. We outline a modern, cost-effective, and automation-friendly approach that allows engineering teams to test smarter, iterate faster, and deliver more reliable products to market.