As networks keep getting faster, and the demand upon them increases, service providers are increasingly strained to migrate to new network formats and upgrade their platforms. With more networks considering pure data services to help stem losses in the mobile calling sector as well as provide users with more of the services that they want, and will pay for, network TAPs are coming increasingly into play as a way to provide much better visibility into LTE (News - Alert) networks and show just where improvements can be made.

There are two common methods of handling network monitoring, either by software, or by hardware. Software solutions provide analysis of network traffic under current standards like NetFlow, IPFIX, Sflow and Jflow. Meanwhile, hardware solutions involve probe-style appliances that directly interact with the network itself to provide a series of measurements based on the traffic that passes through the hardware itself, which is where the network tap comes into play.

A network TAP can be used with software or hardware solutions, and when all three are used in unison, can provide the fullest possible picture of just what the network's status looks like in no uncertain terms. However, using just a network TAP and a hardware approach yielded two basic forms of network monitoring.

The first approach yielded results, but in many cases insufficient results, and at high expense. Network management tools were specifically introduced for equipment alone, and thus required not only multiple software tools that provided at least basic statistics, but also the need for a kind of overarching management tool called the "manager of managers", which attempted to bring a consolidated, and more usable, version of the network data together. In some cases, network monitoring was added almost as an afterthought, becoming an ancillary measure. The result was fragmented, expensive, and potentially disastrous for networks, which contributed somewhat to the comparatively slow rollout of network improvements.

The second approach set network taps out in a grid pattern, which in turn provided better results and at lower costs, taking out the so-called "network blind spots" of the previous approach, and with it allowing for lower cost data collection that is, in turn, more useful and more accurate than the previous approach.

As mobile service providers bring out better networks, the need for accurate, easy to understand network traffic reports will grow ever more crucial, which is why network TAPs serve as such a useful part of the monitoring ecosystem. These solutions will naturally yield their best results when used in conjunction with hardware and software solutions alike, but leaving them out of the picture will ensure a poorer quality, and much less transparent, monitoring solution.

Edited by Jamie Epstein