US Patent 7522543 High-speed communications network tap with zero delay

A high-speed communications network tap includes a first terminal and a second terminal adapted to couple the tap in-line in the network and communicate data with network devices. A duplicator is coupled to the first terminal and the second terminal and configured to duplicate the data as a copy of the data. A processor is coupled to the duplicator and to a third terminal, and is configured to receive the copy of the data from the duplicator and to provide the data to the third terminal. The third terminal is adapted to couple the tap to a network monitor and send data to the network monitor. Advantages of the invention include the ability to duplicate high-speed communication network data for monitoring in an essentially zero delay.