I ask:
i find myself in need of a multiport (8-16) 1 Gig ethernet HUB.
or a switch smart enough to do transparant port mirroring to at least
four ports.
and the following suggestions were made:
http://www.datacomsystems.com/products/details.asp?prod=5&itm=1&cat=3
http://www.netoptics.com/products/product_family_details.asp?cid=1&pid=54&Section=products&menuitem=1
ftp://ftp2.zyxel.com/GS-1524/user_guide/GS-1524_1.12_Ed2.pdf
Of these, it looks like the datacomsystems.com tap will be a good fit.
--bill