1. A method for preparing network data comprising the following acts: receiving a data stream that includes a plurality of frames at a front end device that prepares the plurality of frames for analysis, wherein each frame comprises: a frame identifier field, wherein the identifier field includes identification information identifying a type of frame; and at least one of the following fields: a latched port status field; a dropped frame count field; a frame status flag field; a payload byte count field; a port number field; a byte count field; an error type field; or a 10b value field; dividing the plurality of frames into a plurality of lower bandwidth streams; removing a payload of each frame prior to transmission of the plurality of frames to a plurality of processors; and performing protocol analysis on each of the plurality of lower bandwidth streams.