Security should clear bottlenecks—not create them. Yet for many missions, legacy tools have become chokepoints that stall data and force teams into risky workarounds just to keep up with the pace of operations. 

For one‑way data and file transfer needs, Protocol Filtering Diodes (PFDs) like Owl Talon™ change the game by delivering hardware‑enforced, one‑way data transfer with FPGA‑based protocol filtering at multiple speeds up to 100 Gbps, eliminating many of the bottlenecks that have historically stalled mission‑critical architectures, including:

Constrained Sensor Feeds

Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions generate enormous volumes of data—from radar, imagery, full‑motion video, and more. When your cybersecurity stack cannot keep up, teams are forced to down sample, batch, or delay transfers. 

Legacy firewalls and simple diodes may expose bidirectional risk or become fragile when faced with complex ISR and sensor streams. Learn more about how firewalls & data diodes compare in our whitepaper. A PFD gives you reliable, hardware‑enforced one‑way movement and protocol‑bounded flows, so only allowed sensor protocols cross the boundary. High‑side systems remain unreachable, while analysts still receive the continuous mission data required for timely targeting, fusion, and decision‑making. 

 Delayed OT‑to‑IT and Cloud Analytics

Critical infrastructure operators need real‑time insight into OT environments, but traditional one‑way solutions often cannot handle the volume of logs, operational telemetry, and events required for meaningful analytics, which may lead to slow detection, manual workarounds, and more operational risk. 

Software‑based solutions like firewalls at the IT/OT boundary were never designed to behave as truly one‑way devices, especially under Zero Trust expectations. A PFD enforces physical one‑way flow and ensures that only protocol‑correct OT data—such as historian updates or telemetry—moves toward IT and cloud. This removes backchannel risk, reduces rule‑change friction, and supports regulatory and Zero Trust objectives without forcing operations to sacrifice visibility. 

 Manual “Sneakernet” Workarounds

When network boundaries become throughput or policy bottlenecks, teams resort to manual transfers—USB drives, ad‑hoc connections, or one‑off exceptions. These workarounds are slow, error‑prone, labor intensive and notoriously risky. 

A next‑gen high‑speed PFD like Owl Talon Torrent removes the need for such shortcuts by offering a scalable, policy‑enforced channel for high‑volume data flows, with guaranteed one‑way security and an audit‑ready operating model. That reduces both operational friction and compliance headaches.

Rigid, Vendor‑Locked Architectures

Some security solutions lock missions into closed ecosystems, making it hard to adapt workflows or integrate new capabilities without major redesigns and sustainment costs. That rigidity is itself a bottleneck, slowing modernization and multi‑domain integration. 

Owl’s approach, centered on pure‑play data diodes and cross‑domain solutions, is modular and adaptable. Owl Talon PFDs can slot into evolving architectures—including JADC2, Zero Trust, and HTN designs—supporting secure, near‑real‑time sharing without deepening vendor lock‑in.

Compliance‑Driven Slowdowns

Accreditation and audits can stall new capabilities when controls are complex, opaque, or difficult to justify to boards and regulators. High‑risk boundaries are especially sensitive. 

Because Owl Talon PFDs have been validated by the U.S. Government as Protocol Filtering Diodes, they provide clear, tested controls that align with stringent expectations for high‑threat and cross‑domain environments. Their hardware‑enforced one‑way design and protocol filtering support audit‑ready compliance for standards like NERC CIP, NIS2, and IEC 62443, helping accelerate approvals. 

 “Either/Or” Choices Between Security and Speed

Missions are too often forced into a false choice: accept higher risk for more speed, or slow operations to stay secure. That tension shows up in every decision to enable a new data feed, connect a partner, or push more telemetry across domains. 

Protocol Filtering Diodes remove that false trade‑off at multiple scales. Owl Talon Torrent delivers protocol‑filtered, one‑way transfer up to 100 Gbps for the largest sensor, ISR, and bulk data flows, while Owl Talon One applies the same hardware‑enforced, protocol‑aware model up to 1 Gbps for OT, logging, and moderate‑volume mission data. You no longer need to decide which matters more—security or mission tempo—because both are built into the boundary. 

 Fragmented Situational Awareness

When boundaries cannot support timely, high‑volume sharing, decision‑makers are forced to operate on stale, incomplete, or siloed information. That undermines decision advantage in both military and critical infrastructure contexts. 

By enabling secure, near‑instantaneous one‑way information flow across domains, echelons, and coalitions under protocol‑bounded rules, Owl Talon PFDs help missions achieve decision advantage without compromising security. Leaders gain the timely, trusted data they need to act decisively, even against sophisticated threats. 

 PFDs for the Win 

Protocol Filtering Diodes are not just about going faster. They are about using the right control for the kinds of data flows modern missions depend on—sensor feeds, OT telemetry, logs, files, and mission products—so those flows stop being bottlenecked by tools that were never designed for high‑assurance, one‑way, protocol‑bounded movement. 

If you want to see these patterns in real deployments, watch our on-demand webinar, where Owl Talon experts walk through concrete PFD use cases across OT/IT, mission networks, and High Threat Network boundaries—and show how to turn them into a repeatable blueprint for your own environment.