Patent ID: 8483074

Claim:
A method for recording communications comprising: communicating instructions to a switching device of a network, the instructions indicating that IP packets associated with a communication that is to be recorded are to be directed to long term storage, and the communication that is to be recorded being determined by an external application that issues a trigger to initiate recording, comprising; receiving the instructions at the switching device as a broadcast from the network; determining, at the switching device, whether Internet Protocol (IP) packets being communicated by the network are associated with a communication that is to be recorded; directing information corresponding to the IP packets associated with the communication to a long term storage device; and receiving the IP packets being communicated by the network at a network component to which the IP packets being communicated by the network are addressed, wherein the determining of whether the IP packets being communicated by the network are associated with the communication that is to be recorded is performed by the network component.