Network management startup PacketTrap has introduced a professional-grade version of its pt360 Tool Suite for network monitoring and diagnostics. The product is aimed at midsize companies, but seems to have caught on with some large corporations, too.Some 20,000 network managers have downloaded pt360 since PacketTrap introduced it last November. Two weeks ago, the company came out with pt360 Pro, which comes with more features and costs $1,499 for a one-year license with support and upgrades.

In its no-cost, bare-bones version, pt360 supports network monitoring, diagnostics, and troubleshooting. The bulked-up professional version includes a configuration editor for Cisco routers; a network discovery tool that scans networks to discover devices; monitoring "gadgets" for Microsoft's Exchange, SQL Server, and Active Directory; and a dozen network administration tools such as Ping Scan and DNS Audit.

Co-founder and CEO Steve Goodman says companies with 100 to "several thousand" employees are the sweet spot of the market for PacketTrap, but it's worth nothing that some big name companies have downloaded pt360. PacketTrap's Web site lists American Express, Boeing, Chevron, Fidelity Investments, Home Depot, Kaiser Permanente, Procter & Gamble, and even Microsoft as users.

How can that be? It's not unusual for a network administrator in a large company to discover that a tool like pt360 solves a particular problem, then download it without formal approval. Word spreads and before you know it, a user community springs up.

I interviewed CEO Steve Goodman in InformationWeek's San Francisco office. You can check it out below.