Network Detection and Response (NDR) tools are only as effective as the traffic they receive. When sensors are fed incomplete, duplicated, or poorly filtered data, detection accuracy suffers — and threats slip through. The packet broker is what sits between your network taps and your NDR platform, and its job is to ensure every sensor gets exactly the right traffic, at the right speed, with zero gaps.
As NDR deployments grow more complex — spanning on-premises data centers, hybrid environments, and high-speed links at 100G and beyond — choosing the right Network Packet Broker (NPB) has become a foundational security decision. This guide compares the top five packet brokers purpose-built for NDR tool deployments in 2026, covering verified product specifications, key differentiators, and practical selection guidance.
| Vendor | Key Strength | Max Throughput |
|---|---|---|
|
Scale-out modular architecture with API-driven NDR automation |
Up to 400G |
|
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Deep Observability Pipeline with SSL/TLS decryption |
Up to 400G |
|
|
Zero packet loss architecture with AI-powered visibility |
Up to 400G |
|
|
Application-aware Layer 7 filtering with HyperEngine processing |
Up to 400G |
|
|
Open ecosystem, tunneling protocol support, no per-feature licensing |
Up to 400G |
Network Critical delivers scalable network packet brokers purpose-built for feeding NDR tools with clean, filtered, deduplicated traffic. The SmartNA-PortPlus™ scales from 48 to 194 ports across 1G, 10G, 25G, 40G, and 100G speeds in a single RU chassis. The SmartNA-PortPlus HyperCore™ extends that to 400G with 32 QSFP-DD interfaces, supporting up to 25.6 Tbps aggregate throughput.
What makes Network Critical particularly well-suited to NDR deployments is its RESTful API integration. The Drag-n-Vu™ management interface supports fully automated port mapping and filter configuration, allowing NDR platforms to programmatically control which traffic they receive — without manual intervention. This machine-to-machine integration, demonstrated in production with Darktrace, enables NDR tools to dynamically adapt their traffic intake as network patterns change.
Network TAPs feed directly into the SmartNA-PortPlus, with Layer 2 to Layer 4 packet filtering, traffic aggregation, persistent and dynamic load balancing, deduplication, and payload masking all available from a single pane of glass. The scale-out architecture allows organizations to start with 48 ports and expand incrementally — adding units without replacing infrastructure or reconfiguring existing deployments.
Proven Results:
Gigamon is one of the most widely deployed packet broker platforms in enterprise environments. Its GigaVUE family forms the backbone of what Gigamon calls the Deep Observability Pipeline — a visibility fabric designed to aggregate, process, and distribute traffic to security tools including NDR platforms.
Gigamon supports SSL/TLS decryption at line rate, enabling NDR tools to inspect encrypted traffic without deploying their own decryption infrastructure. The platform integrates with cloud environments including AWS and Azure, offering virtual TAP capabilities for hybrid deployments. Advanced features include metadata export, application-aware filtering, and integration with major Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) platforms.
GigaVUE nodes scale to support 25 Tbps aggregate throughput across clustered deployments. Gigamon's evolution toward a security analytics platform means some organizations find the licensing model more complex than a focused infrastructure alternative. Purpose-built visibility vendors remain a strong complement to or alternative for organizations seeking simpler, hardware-focused architectures.
Keysight Technologies brings test equipment precision to production network visibility. Its Vision Series Network Packet Brokers support speeds from 1G to 400G and operate on a zero packet loss architecture, making them a reliable feed source for NDR tools that depend on complete traffic capture for behavioral analysis.
Keysight's Dynamic Filter Compiler handles filter rule complexity automatically, reducing configuration overhead in large deployments. SSL/TLS decryption is supported to enable NDR platforms to inspect otherwise opaque traffic. AI-powered visibility enhancements have been introduced across the Vision platform, including intelligent traffic classification and anomaly-aware distribution to connected tools.
The Vision 400 platform supports 400G interfaces and is designed for high-density spine and backbone environments, including AI infrastructure clusters. Keysight's heritage in test and measurement translates to robust timestamping, hardware-based processing, and extensive pre-shipment inventory — useful for organizations with strict procurement timelines.
APCON takes a chassis-based approach to packet brokering, with its IntellaView and IntellaFlex XR platforms supporting modular blade architectures from 3RU to 9RU. The HyperEngine blade adds real-time Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and Layer 7 application-aware filtering, detecting over 1,600 applications and 400 protocols at line rate — a significant advantage when directing specific application traffic to dedicated NDR sensors.
The HyperEngine supports real-time processing across 1G, 10G, 25G, 40G, and 100G feeds, with up to 400G total throughput per chassis through four concurrent processing engines. Deduplication, NetFlow generation, protocol header stripping, and packet slicing are all available as blade-level services. Traffic shaping features allow APCON to buffer and smooth traffic delivery to NDR tools operating below line-rate capacity, preventing oversubscription without packet loss.
APCON's IntellaView Enterprise software provides a single-pane-of-glass management interface with mobile access via iOS and Android. The platform scales across private cloud, public cloud, and on-premises environments, making it a strong fit for large enterprise and data center deployments with diverse NDR sensor placements.
Cubro Network Visibility is a European manufacturer with a strong carrier-grade pedigree, offering an open, license-free approach to packet brokering that suits organizations seeking flexible NDR integration without ongoing software licensing costs. All features — including deduplication, tunneling protocol decapsulation, session-aware load balancing, and NetFlow/IPFIX metadata generation — are included without per-feature licensing.
Cubro's Packetmaster series supports L2 to L7 visibility with extensive tunneling protocol coverage including GTP, VXLAN, MPLS, GRE, and ERSPAN — making it well-suited to service provider and telecom environments where encapsulated traffic is common. Speeds range from 1G to 400G. The Omnia Series adds built-in passive tapping, on-board storage, and software stacks (Packetmaster, Sessionmaster, Appmaster) in a single appliance, enabling it to function as an aggregation TAP, advanced NPB, DPI probe, or capture appliance depending on requirements.
Cubro operates as a vendor-agnostic platform, integrating with commercial and open-source NDR, Intrusion Detection System (IDS), SIEM, and SOAR tools without lock-in. An 8-byte timestamp with 1 nanosecond resolution is available on select platforms — valuable for NDR tools performing forensic timeline reconstruction.
Start with the highest-speed links in your environment. If your data center runs 100G spine links, your packet broker must handle 100G at full duplex without dropping packets under burst conditions. If you're planning for 400G, verify that the platform supports 400G interfaces natively — not just through breakout from higher-capacity fabrics. Match port density to the number of TAP points you plan to instrument.
NDR tools perform better when they receive filtered, deduplicated traffic rather than raw aggregated feeds. Look for platforms that support:
The more precisely your NPB can preprocess traffic, the more efficiently your NDR sensors operate.
Modern NDR tools benefit from dynamic control over the traffic they receive. An NPB with an open RESTful API allows your NDR platform to programmatically adjust filters and port maps as it detects shifts in traffic behavior. This machine-to-machine integration reduces mean time to detect by eliminating manual reconfiguration steps. If your NDR vendor supports NPB API integration, confirm compatibility before selecting a platform.
NDR deployments grow as monitoring scope expands. Choose a packet broker architecture that scales incrementally — adding ports or chassis without replacing existing units or reconfiguring upstream TAP connections. Scale-out designs allow you to start with a modest port count and expand as link speeds and monitoring coverage requirements increase.
Some platforms include advanced features at the base hardware price. Others require per-feature or per-port software licenses that increase total cost of ownership significantly over time. Clarify which capabilities — including deduplication, SSL decryption, advanced filtering, and load balancing — are included with the hardware versus sold as upgrades.
A packet broker is a hardware device that aggregates, filters, and distributes network traffic to connected monitoring or security tools. NDR tools need packet brokers because they cannot ingest raw traffic from every link in a large network simultaneously. A packet broker ensures each NDR sensor receives only the traffic it needs, at the correct speed, without duplicates — enabling accurate behavioral analysis without tool oversubscription.
A network TAP creates a passive, full-fidelity copy of traffic on a specific link without impacting the live network. A packet broker sits downstream of TAPs, aggregating feeds from multiple access points and intelligently distributing them to NDR and other monitoring tools. Most enterprise NDR architectures use both: TAPs for lossless access at the link level, and packet brokers for traffic management and tool distribution.
Yes. By removing duplicate packets, filtering out non-relevant traffic, and delivering clean, normalized feeds to NDR sensors, a packet broker directly reduces false positives and improves the signal quality that behavioral analytics engines rely on. Organizations using hardware-based deduplication before NDR ingestion typically see reduced storage overhead and faster threat correlation.
This depends on your NDR platform's capabilities and your compliance environment. If your NDR tool cannot perform its own SSL/TLS decryption, and a significant portion of your traffic is encrypted, NPB-level decryption ensures the sensor receives inspectable data. Some organizations prefer to handle decryption at the packet broker layer to centralize key management and reduce per-tool licensing costs.
This varies by network size, but enterprise deployments commonly instrument 10 to 50 or more TAP points feeding one or more packet brokers. A packet broker then aggregates those feeds and distributes relevant traffic to NDR sensors based on geographic location, traffic type, or tool specialization. The ratio of TAP points to NDR sensors depends on sensor throughput capacity and the filtering efficiency of the NPB between them.
Effective NDR starts with a reliable, high-fidelity traffic feed. Without complete packet visibility, even the most capable behavioral analytics engine will produce gaps in detection coverage.
Network Critical's SmartNA-PortPlus platform provides the scalable, API-integrated foundation that modern NDR deployments require — from 48-port 10G configurations up to 400G hyperscale environments. The open RESTful API enables direct integration with NDR platforms, allowing tools to control their own traffic intake without manual intervention. The scale-out architecture means your visibility layer grows with your network, with no need to replace hardware as port density increases.
Speak to the Network Critical team to discuss your NDR visibility architecture and request a free network audit.