<s>
Content	B-Device
processors	I-Device
are	O
sometimes	O
confused	O
with	O
network	B-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
that	O
inspect	O
the	O
packet	B-Protocol
payload	O
of	O
an	O
IP	B-Protocol
packet	I-Protocol
travelling	O
through	O
a	O
computer	B-Architecture
network	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
components	O
allow	O
for	O
the	O
design	O
and	O
deployment	O
of	O
next-generation	O
networking	O
systems	O
that	O
can	O
make	O
packet	B-Protocol
or	O
message	O
processing	O
decisions	O
based	O
on	O
an	O
awareness	O
of	O
the	O
packet	B-Protocol
or	O
message	O
content	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
work	O
of	O
Content	B-Device
Processors	I-Device
is	O
often	O
termed	O
Content	O
Processing	O
or	O
Deep	B-Application
Packet	I-Application
Inspection	I-Application
,	O
DPI	O
,	O
though	O
some	O
people	O
feel	O
that	O
the	O
expression	O
DPI	O
is	O
too	O
limiting	O
as	O
many	O
Content	B-Device
Processors	I-Device
can	O
modify	O
and	O
re-write	O
content	O
on	O
the	O
fly	O
-	O
therefore	O
they	O
can	O
do	O
much	O
more	O
than	O
just	O
inspect	O
which	O
implies	O
a	O
sort	O
of	O
monitoring	O
only	O
function	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
knowledge	B-General_Concept
based	I-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
or	O
Ternary	O
Content-addressable	B-Data_Structure
memory	I-Data_Structure
(	O
TCAMS	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
mainly	O
target	O
the	O
packet	B-Protocol
header	O
(	O
twenty	O
percent	O
of	O
the	O
packet	B-Protocol
currently	O
comprises	O
the	O
header	O
)	O
,	O
content	B-Device
processors	I-Device
go	O
much	O
further	O
into	O
the	O
packet	B-Protocol
or	O
message	O
thereby	O
determining	O
the	O
nature	O
of	O
the	O
content	O
in	O
the	O
packet	B-Protocol
itself	O
(	O
80%	O
of	O
the	O
packet	B-Protocol
currently	O
is	O
data	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Applications	O
of	O
content	B-Device
processors	I-Device
include	O
:	O
layer	B-Application
7	I-Application
application	I-Application
,	O
application-oriented	B-Device
networks	I-Device
switches	B-Device
,	O
routers	B-Protocol
,	O
unified	O
threat	O
management	O
(	O
UTM	O
)	O
computer	B-Architecture
appliances	I-Architecture
,	O
Intrusion	O
Detection	O
,	O
prevention	O
systems	O
(	O
IDS/IPS	O
)	O
,	O
anti-virus	B-Application
,	O
compliance	B-Application
,	O
 [ VOIP ] 	O
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
gateways	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Advanced	O
Content	B-Device
Processors	I-Device
can	O
both	O
examine	O
and	O
transform	O
content	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
:	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
new	O
Office	O
2007	O
product	O
has	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
save	O
documents	O
in	O
an	O
open	O
XML	B-Protocol
format	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
.ppt	O
,	O
.xls	O
and	O
.doc	O
applications	O
will	O
save	O
to	O
an	O
encapsulated	O
(	O
actually	O
ZIP	B-General_Concept
)	O
file	O
type	O
named	O
.pptx	O
,	O
.xlsx	O
and	O
.docx	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
So	O
a	O
content	B-Device
processor	I-Device
could	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
examine	O
all	O
of	O
a	O
corporations	O
documents	O
and	O
replace	O
one	O
company	O
name	O
with	O
another	O
,	O
or	O
change	O
an	O
included	O
corporate	O
logo	O
-	O
all	O
because	O
the	O
structured	O
data	O
represented	O
in	O
XML	B-Protocol
can	O
be	O
manipulated	O
much	O
more	O
easily	O
than	O
a	O
proprietary	O
and	O
undocumented	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
XML	B-Protocol
is	O
often	O
described	O
as	O
a	O
self-describing	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
Content	B-Device
Processors	I-Device
support	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
handle	O
both	O
message-based	O
or	O
packet-by-packet	O
analysis	O
and	O
some	O
can	O
keep	O
track	O
of	O
content	O
across	O
multiple	O
packets	B-Protocol
so	O
that	O
the	O
signatures	O
they	O
may	O
be	O
searching	O
for	O
can	O
cross	O
packet	B-Protocol
boundaries	O
and	O
they	O
will	O
still	O
be	O
found	O
.	O
</s>
