Abstract: A network element and a method are configured to monitor a plurality of traffic flows conveyed in a communications network, wherein the network element comprises: at least one packet processor configured to support ACL functionality, and at least one CPU configured to track traffic flows and to export statistical data.

Abstract: The present invention includes a network layer module which may communicate with a computing device's network layer and intercept packets produced by one or more source applications running on the computing device. A protocol unwrapping unit may unwrap the intercepted packets, and a prioritization module may assign a priority value to each unwrapped packet based on the packet's source application. A synchronized data packing module may insert into an encapsulated packet at least a portion of an unwrapped packet, wherein the inserted portion of an unwrapped packet's size relative to the encapsulated packet's size is correlated to the inserted packet's relative priority value.