Vampire tap
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/ThicknetTransceiver.jpg/220px-ThicknetTransceiver.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/VampireTap.jpg/220px-VampireTap.jpg)
A vampire tap (also called a piercing tap) is a device for physically connecting a station (e.g. a computer or printer) to a network that uses 10BASE5 cabling. This device clamps onto and "bites" into the cable (hence the vampire name), forcing a spike through a hole drilled through the outer shielding to contact the inner conductor while other spikes bite into the outer conductor. From the vampire tap, a short cable called an AUI (Attachment Unit Interface) is connected directly from the tap to the network card in the PC.
Vampire taps allow new connections to be made on a given physical cable while the cable is in use. This allows administrators to expand bus-topology network sections without interrupting communications. Without a vampire tap, the cable has to be cut and connectors have to be attached to both ends.
See also
- Network tap
- Insulation-displacement connector, another insulation-piercing system