APCON Introduces the APCONTAP Modular Network TAP

WILSONVILLE, Ore., Aug. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- APCON, Inc., the industry leader for intelligent network monitoring switches, today announced its APCONTAP modular passive TAP solution.

"APCONTAP is the next step in APCON's plan to deliver a complete family of industry-leading products," said Richard Rauch, President and CEO of APCON. "With APCONTAP, we're delivering a high port density failsafe solution that meets the needs of enterprise-level data centers."

Why Use a Passive TAP?

TAP (Test Access Port) devices are a basic building block of network monitoring, commonly used to implement Intrusion Detection Systems, network probes, and data recording and analysis systems. By allowing network engineers to "listen in" on all network traffic between switches, routers, and other features on the network landscape, a TAP allows the engineer to observe the packets moving through the network without disturbing those packets. In general, TAPs deliver full-duplex monitoring with 100 percent network traffic visibility, including layer 1 and 2 errors for comprehensive troubleshooting. Conversely, SPAN or Mirror ports on network switches often drop malformed packets, obscuring errors.

Typically, a network engineer wants to monitor the traffic that passes between Point A and Point B on a network. Point A and Point B may be any devices – a router and a switch, a server and a client, or any other network devices. The only requirement is that the two points must be connected to each other directly. The engineer may then choose to insert a tap in the connection link between those points to take a copy of the data passing over the connection and route the copied packets to a monitoring tool.

Passive TAP devices are often preferred in production data center environments because they use no electrical power, and are undetectable on the network. A passive TAP simply splits off part of the signal that passes over the primary connection, so it is by nature a failsafe device that protects communication on the primary link. For this reason, passive TAP devices are often used to support network intrusion detection systems, network analyzers and recorders, and network probes.

The APCONTAP Solution

APCON's APCONTAP is a 1RU or ½RU chassis that fits in a standard data center rack. The chassis is unpowered and accepts up to 8 TAP modules in 1RU, or 4 modules in ½RU.  This high-density rack-mounted solution allows data center managers to simultaneously tap up to sixteen full duplex 10G fiber optic Ethernet links on a single rack-unit chassis that integrates seamlessly with an APCON's INTELLAFLEX and INTELLAPATCH line of intelligent data traffic management switch products.

Each APCONTAP module provides two complete full duplex TAPs. Because network architecture varies by application, APCONTAP is available in a variety of common split ratios from 50/50 to 70/30. APCONTAP also features 850nm 50μm or 62.5μm Multimode, or 1310/1550nm 9μm Single mode optical fiber. APCONTAP passes full-duplex 1G or 10G Ethernet, SONET, or SDH traffic transparently at line rate, which allows monitoring tools to conduct comprehensive troubleshooting and achieve 100% visibility at every layer of the network. Because the APCONTAP is modular, network engineers may choose a mix of TAP modules to suit their particular network architecture.

About APCON

APCON develops innovative, scalable technology solutions to enhance network monitoring, support IT traffic analysis, and streamline IT network management and security. The company serves as the industry leader for state-of-the-art IT data aggregation, filtering, and network switching products, as well as leading-edge management-software support. Organizations in over 50 countries currently depend on APCON solutions in their network infrastructures. Customers include Global Fortune 500 companies, banks and financial services institutions, telecommunication and service providers, government and military organizations, and computer equipment manufacturers. For more information, visit www.apcon.com or follow on Twitter at @APCON.

SOURCE APCON, Inc.