Network Visibility Savings

Traditional Network Packet Brokers (NPBs) are dedicated appliances purpose-built to aggregate TAP (Test Access Point) feeds from multiple network segments and distribute the combined traffic to security and monitoring tools: intrusion detection systems, network performance monitors, packet capture appliances, and forensics tools. The dedicated-appliance approach to TAP aggregation has a cost structure that reflects the purpose-built hardware: NPB appliances are priced as monitoring infrastructure rather than as general-purpose switching infrastructure, and they require their own operational management, maintenance contracts, and upgrade cycles separate from the production network. As network speeds move from 10G to 25G, 40G, 50G, and 100G, each speed generation may require a separate NPB appliance purchase since legacy NPBs are often not upgradeable to higher line rates.

Arista DANZ (Data Analyzer) provides TAP aggregation and packet distribution capabilities using EOS-based switching hardware, the same platform family used for production data centre and campus switching. The 7500R3 modular chassis aggregates dozens of 100G TAP feeds in a single chassis with non-blocking, line-rate packet processing, eliminating the need for separate NPB appliances for high-density 100G TAP aggregation scenarios. The 7280R3A delivers compact 100G TAP aggregation in 1RU for deployments where chassis-scale aggregation is not required, a smaller monitoring point or a single segment capture scenario. For TAP aggregation at 10G and 25G, the 7280R3 and 7060X/7260X platforms provide the port density required for server-tier TAP aggregation. Because DANZ runs on EOS platforms that also carry production traffic, organisations can share hardware across production networking and monitoring roles in environments where a dedicated monitoring overlay is not required.