providing the MissingLINK™
WHY TAP YOUR NETWORK?
Presented by Chris Bihary, Director of Sales
We make it easy to access, monitor, and collect your
Network Traffic.
www.criticaltap.com

providing the MissingLINK™
Agenda
• Introduction to Network Critical
• Customer Requirements & Challenges
faced when providing access for
Network Tools
• What is a TAP?
• Why Use a TAP?
• New TAP Technology

providing the MissingLINK™
Who is Network Critical?
• Launched in 1997
• Engineering, Manufacturer and
Marketing • Headquartered in Reading,
England
• The Leader in TAP Technology
• Started manufacturing
• Network Access Solutions
CriticalTAP™ hardware in 1999
• Secure Fault Tolerant Hardware
• Opened North American office
Approach 2005
• Data Collection / Data • Customer Driven Company
Monitoring – Listen, Support, Deliver
• The only Enterprise Solution in
the Marketplace

providing the MissingLINK™
Customer Requirements
• Enterprise Networks Require Network Tools
– Network Analyzers, Probes, Protocol Analyzers, Sniffers,
Network Monitoring Tools
– Performance Monitoring / Bandwidth Management Systems
– Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems – IDS/IPS
– VoIP, Quality of Service (QoS), Monitoring, Recording
– Forensic Analysis
– Lawful Data Interception (CALEA)
– Reverse Proxy Solutions
– Application Analyzers
– Email/SPAM/URL/Content Filtering
– NEW NETWORK APPLIANCES & TOOLS ARE ON THE RISE!

providing the MissingLINK™
How do I connect my Network Tool?
• Brief History
It’s simple, I need
access to the data!

providing the MissingLINK™
How do I connect my Network Tool?
• How are Network Tools Deployed?
– SPAN or Mirrored Ports (switches)
– TAP – Test Access Port
– In-Line Appliances

providing the MissingLINK™
SPAN / Mirrored Switch Port
• Mirrored Port or Cisco Term SPAN (Switch Port Analyzer)
– With SPAN, traffic from any port on the network switch can be
mirrored or copied to another port, which is designated as the SPAN
port. You can then connect the SPAN port to the Network Tool
Managed
Ethernet
Switch
SPAN Port

providing the MissingLINK™
SPAN / Mirrored Switch Port
• Benefits • Limitations
– Internal Switch Traffic
– Contention for SPAN Ports
Visible
• Network Engineers, Security, VoIP,
– VLAN’s are Visible
etc
• I have no SPAN Ports Available
– Monitoring device is missing packets due
to port over-subscription
– Degraded network switch performance
when monitoring a busy segment
– Cannot view physical layer 1 & 2 errors
– Full duplex monitoring is not available
– Requires re-configuration of the network
switch
• Authorization Problems
• Switch Configuration Errors can
cause major Network Problems

providing the MissingLINK™
What is a TAP?
• Test Access Port (TAP)
• Provides a copy of the traffic flowing between two (2) Network Devices
• Fail Safe Technology - 100% Network Availability even in an event of power loss
• 100 % Visibility of the Full Duplex Network Traffic including Layer 1 & Layer 2
Errors
• Sensor are 100% Isolated & Secure
• CriticalTAP is a layer 1 device – Easy to install & Manage
• Creates a Permanent Access Point for Network Tools
CriticalTAP™

providing the MissingLINK™
What is a TAP?
• Provide Easy Network Access (hardware only solution)
• Eliminates the need for SPAN / Mirrored Ports
• Permanent 24/7/365 Access
• 10/100/1000 Copper, Fiber 100Base-FX, OC3 – OC192,
Gigabit, 10 Gigabit, Fiber to Copper Gigabit TAPs
S witc h S witc h
S witc h Router
S witc h
S erv er
Firewall
S witc h
SENSOR
SENSOR
SENSOR
S ens or

providing the MissingLINK™
TAP Benefits
• Simple Layer 1 Passive Hardware Device
• Easy to Install
• Provides Permanent Access
• 100% Network Availability
– No Single Point of Failure
• 100% Visibility to Network Traffic
• Eliminate the need for a SPAN Port
• Cost effective
• Save $$$$, No Network Downtime
Make your life easier when deploying
& managing your Network Tools

providing the MissingLINK™
New CriticalTAP™ Technology
Combi (Aggregating) TAPs Many-to-One or One-to-Many TAPs
CriticalTAP™
V-Line (Virtually In-Line) TAPs

providing the MissingLINK™
CriticalConneX™ Modular Chassis
CC1000
CriticalConneX Modular Chassis, 4 slots, Dual Power Supplies,
1U

providing the MissingLINK™
Thank You for your Time!
Any Questions contact
• Chris Bihary
– Director of Sales – North America
– 716-558-7280 office
– 716-558-7882 direct
– 716-628-9088 mobile
– chris@networkcritical.com
– www.criticaltap.com