There are 2 types of IP packet capture ways based on application and industry standard ：

• Packet captured from IP network： for IP network  infrastructure in enterprises, ISP, IDC and LTE/WiMAX operators
• IP packet from Telco switch ：
  1. Tradition switch through Mediation Platform
  2. For IMS and all IP networks, IP Packet can be captured through service broker of application layer or directly from IP core switch of Media and End Point layer of IMS system

All data packets on Ethernet  are broadcast to everywhere, i.e., all physical signals will come to network Interface card of our appliance. NIC can be under promiscuous mode, so it can receive all data no matter what the MAC address it is.  This is what the basic of Sniffer all about.

From LI port of Soft Switch/TDM to capture signals by ETSI/CALEA standard. Passing through mediation platform and convert the data for further analysis through Handover Interface (HI) before reaching EDDC for further packet analysis

Directly capture IP data packets from both application or media layers of IMS/all IP networks. So it is not necessary to pass through mediation platform. It’s predicted that this will be the future trend for all Telco operators