For feds seeking needles, Endace turns telco data into real-time haystacks

Endace calls it's platform the Ninja Pro. However, here at Interop 2007, I suggested to the company that they call it "Haystack" (or "Haystack Pro" instead). When you hear about the CALEA Act (that's the one that enables feds to collect lawfully intercepted data from the telcos for analysis), the one thing you don't hear about is the gear that makes the collection of that data possible. If you can imagine the amount of data flowing through an ISP like AT&T or Sprint, you can also imagine the special sort of gear it would take to siphon that data off -- all of the data -- to a repository where it can be analyzed after the fact.

For carrier-grade ISPs, the device would have to be able to tap networks of virtually any bandwidth and, nearly as quickly as it does that, shuffle that data off to some form of storage that becomes the haystack in which the feds begin to look for needles.

Enter Endace's Ninja Pro. Varying in price from $15,000 to more than $100,000, the Ninja Pro can be configured to store from 1 to 12 terabytes of data and to work with networks ranging in bandwidth from T-1 (1.544 mbps) to OC 768 (40 Gbps). Once it collects that data though, it doesn't take part in the needle-hunting. That's not Endace's specialty. For that, Endace suggests you turn to one of its partners who develop software for that very purpose. The device isn't small. But, as you can see from the video, that didn't stop me from trying to walk off with it.