Packetron is a network intelligence application module developed by Niagara Networks, available either as an internal packet acceleration module for network packet brokers or as an external standalone appliance (ePacketron). It extends network visibility to Layer 7 (L7) by enabling advanced traffic processing and analysis capabilities on top of existing packet broker infrastructure. Core processing functions include: - Packet Slicing: Reduces data volume by trimming packet payloads to a configurable size, retaining only the relevant header or payload portion needed for analysis tools. - Deduplication: Identifies and removes duplicate packets from traffic streams to reduce load on downstream monitoring tools. - NetFlow/IPFIX Generation: Produces flow records from live traffic for use with flow-based monitoring and analytics systems. - Data Masking: Obfuscates sensitive data fields within packets to support privacy and compliance requirements before forwarding to analysis tools. - Application Filtering: Identifies and filters traffic based on application-layer (L7) classification. - TLS Decryption: Decrypts TLS-encrypted traffic to enable inspection by downstream security and monitoring tools. - Tunnel Support: Handles encapsulated/tunneled traffic protocols to allow visibility into tunneled flows. - GTP Correlation: Correlates GTP (GPRS Tunneling Protocol) sessions, relevant for mobile network visibility. - Header Stripping: Removes specific encapsulation headers from packets prior to forwarding. - Regex: Supports regular expression-based pattern matching for traffic filtering or content inspection. Packetron is designed to work within Niagara Networks' broader visibility platform, which includes network packet brokers, bypass switches, and TAPs.