Through which means does NetFlow traffic analysis (NTA) process flow data?

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Exact Extract:

SolarWinds NTA processes flow data via a dedicated collector component. Devices are configured to export flow records to the NTA collector, which ingests, stores, and analyzes the data.

"NetFlow Traffic Analyzer receives flow data from network devices using the NetFlow Collector service, which processes and stores traffic information for analysis."

No agent is required on target devices, and the collector is the key processing method.