A scalable packet analyzer receives data packets from a data packet source for packet analysis and includes a plurality of policy engine arrays, each having a plurality of packet analysis microengines. A policy algorithm loader module is operative with each packet analysis microengine for loading a policy algorithm to each packet analysis microengine such that each packet analysis microengine analyzes specific sections of the data packet in parallel within each policy engine array based on the applied policy algorithm to obtain data about the data packet for further data packet processing.