If your security tools are only as good as the data they receive, then visibility isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s the foundation everything else is built on. That’s one reason we’re big fans of Profitap here at Telnet Networks.

Founded in the Netherlands, Profitap has spent years building no-nonsense hardware and software that gives IT and security teams an accurate, complete view of what’s happening on their networks without adding latency, complexity, or risk to the production environment. Their portfolio spans Network TAPs, portable packet capture, distributed analysis platforms, and Packet Brokers, covering everything from a single branch office to a multi-site enterprise network.

Here’s a practical look at what Profitap brings to the table.

Getting the Traffic Right: Network TAPs

Before you can analyze what’s happening on your network, you need to get the traffic out accurately and reliably. That’s where Network TAPs come in.

Profitap Network TAPs (Test Access Points) sit directly in-line with your network and create an exact copy of traffic for your monitoring and security tools. The key advantage over SPAN ports: TAPs don’t drop packets when the network gets busy. You get a complete, accurate feed every time.

Profitap offers several TAP types for different environments:

• Copper TAPs: Fail-safe access for 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet links. Ideal for enterprise networks and branch locations where you need full visibility without touching production traffic. Data diode functionality prevents monitoring devices from accidentally injecting traffic back into the network.
• Fiber TAPs: Passive optical TAPs for fiber environments from 1G to 400G. No power required, no added failure point. A natural fit for data centers and high-speed environments.
• Bypass TAPs: Built for in-line security deployments (firewalls, IPS, etc.). If the security appliance fails or loses power, traffic keeps flowing. Availability doesn’t have to fight security.
• Aggregation TAPs: Combine traffic from multiple links into a single monitoring output. Reduces tool ports and helps with speed conversion between your network and monitoring infrastructure.
• Industrial/OT TAPs: Purpose-built for the plant floor with DIN-rail mounting, 24V DC power inputs, and data diode functionality that physically prevents any traffic from flowing back into the OT network. If you’re working toward NIS2 or NERC CIP compliance, these are worth a close look.

Portable Troubleshooting: ProfiShark

When you need to investigate an issue in the field without disrupting the network,ProfiShark is the tool for the job. It’s a portable packet capture device that connects directly to a network link and delivers high-fidelity traffic capture with precise hardware timestamping.

ProfiShark comes in two models, the 1G for Gigabit environments and the 10G for higher-speed links, and integrates with common analysis tools like Wireshark. It’s the kind of tool field technicians and network engineers reach for when they need reliable packet-level data fast, without setting up a full monitoring stack.

Best for: Network engineers troubleshooting performance issues, security teams capturing traffic for investigations, field technicians doing on-site diagnostics.

Distributed Visibility: Profitap IOTA

If you’ve ever had to deal with a hard-to-reproduce issue at a remote site with no good way to capture what was happening on the wire, IOTA was built for that problem.

IOTA is a network capture and analysis platform designed for continuous, distributed visibility. Think of it as a “network flight recorder”, it captures packet data in real time and lets you access detailed analysis remotely without needing boots on the ground. It extracts over 100 metadata KPIs (latency, TCP retransmissions, top talkers, and more) through a browser-based dashboard, so you can often troubleshoot without even pulling a full PCAP file.

The platform comes in two form factors:

• IOTA Edge: A compact appliance sized for branch offices and remote locations. Provides packet capture and monitoring at sites that don’t have dedicated IT resources on-site.
• IOTA Core: A higher-capacity platform for data centers and central locations where traffic volumes are larger and deeper analysis is needed.

IOTA is also a strong fit for industrial and OT environments. It supports a dedicated Modbus dashboard and edge deployment options, making it practical for plant floor monitoring where traditional IT tooling doesn’t hold up.

Particularly strong in: Healthcare (remote monitoring of critical systems), industrial/OT environments, financial services (latency-sensitive application analysis), and MSPs managing multiple customer sites.

Managing the Data: Network Packet Brokers

Once you have TAPs deployed across your infrastructure, you need a way to direct that traffic intelligently to your analysis and security tools. That’s whatPacket Brokers do.

Profitap’s Packet Brokers sit between your TAPs (or SPAN ports) and your monitoring tools — aggregating, filtering, and distributing traffic so each tool gets exactly what it needs. Rather than flooding your security appliances with backup traffic and noise, you send them only the relevant flows. This extends the life and ROI of your existing monitoring investments considerably.

Their V-series and X-series brokers scale from small deployments up to large multi-site architectures. If you’re running tools like Nozomi or Keysight and want to make sure they’re processing only relevant traffic, a Packet Broker is often the missing piece.

Key use cases: Enterprise data centers managing high-bandwidth environments, IT/OT converged networks where the same data stream needs to feed multiple tools simultaneously, and service providers managing carrier-grade infrastructure.

Why We Recommend Profitap

Profitap’s strength is precision. Whether you’re running enterprise IT, securing an OT environment, or troubleshooting a remote branch that’s giving you grief, Profitap’s hardware is built to give you accurate, complete, and uncompromised network data.

For our industrial clients, the ruggedized OT TAPs and IOTA Edge make visibility achievable even in environments where traditional deployments wouldn’t hold up. For enterprise and data center teams, the high-speed TAPs, ProfiShark, and Packet Brokers provide the foundation for serious network monitoring and cybersecurity programs.

Want to see how it fits in your environment? Reach out to our team at [email protected] — we’re happy to walk through your specific use case and put together a demo.