A network TAP is similar to a wheel on a car, because without this vital part, you won’t be able to use it. In fact, a network TAP offers features such as aggregation, replication and regeneration and is crucial that businesses have constant access to real-time data to see exactly what the patterns of traffic are doing within their network.

This week in the industry, it was revealed that CTS (News - Alert), a telecom consulting company, has signed an agreement with network TAP software company Network Services Group (NSG). As per the newly inked arrangement, the sale of NSG’s customer base, software code and associated contracts will all be transferred to CTS.

“The legacy of innovative network monitoring tools by both companies has greatly impacted the telecommunications industry and we couldn’t be more excited about future growth and innovations with our buyout of such a great company,” said CTS president and founder Charlie G. Hinders.

Offering the CTS PRO, AMA and SS7 software solutions, the company also powers a toolset that can be easily used to complete highly accurate traffic studies, advanced AMA and SS-7 Call Center (QMS) analysis, force management statistics, revenue assurance and various consulting services.

In other news, Network Instruments (News - Alert) has debuted its Observer Infrastructure (OI), a robust resource and infrastructure monitoring solution. Created from the ground up with the purpose of dramatically raising visibility of multiple applications, this offering will help to ensure that any problems are detected right away.

OI also includes AppFlow product support which helps to raise the bar on the analysis of applications within the Citrix virtual environments, as well as can track application status codes, average request response times, and turn response times.

Closing out this week, it was brought to light that until recently, there was no way to see everything currently taking place in a network in real-time at the packet level. That is where a network TAP comes in as it can clearly outline analytical devices at every point in the network which drives flexibility.

 “Because it functions as one system, distributed traffic capture offers network monitoring, for the first time, fault tolerance, ultra low latency, infinite flexibility and full optimization,” said VSS Monitoring (News - Alert) in a recent white paper on the topic. “A distributed traffic capture system not only adapts as rapidly as conditions require but also delivers multiple views of the network simultaneously, so that each monitoring group can see the view appropriate to its function.”

To keep up-to-date with all of the latest and greatest in the network TAP space, be sure to stay glued to this community exclusively on TMCnet!

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.

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