In the VPN space, Rochester, N.H.-based Enterasys Networks has been lagging behind, according to one analyst. The Enterasys Aurorean Virtual Network, compiled of a suite of VPN solutions, had until recently operated at a performance of 40Mbps with Triple Data Encryption Standard (DES) – compared to competitor performances of 100Mbps.
In order to maintain a more competitive position, the company announced the release of the ANG-7050 gateway, which increases performance to 100Mbps with Triple DES, without an increase in price from the previous ANG-7000. The Aurorean Virtual Network allows enterprises to replace traditional WANs with a global virtual network that securely extends the edge of the corporate network anywhere in the world by leveraging the global reach of the public Internet, the company said.
According to Kelly Kanellakis, director of technology, office of the CTO for Enterasys in Mississauga, Ont., the ANG-7050 comes with a built-in hardware accelerator ASIC (application specific IC) inside the VPN gateway. Kanellakis added that the product now includes a dedicated management interface for out-of-band management access via SNMO, Telnet, Ping, HTTP and FTP services.
Kanellakis said that the enhancements came as a result of customer demand.
“We are seeing a lot of our customers moving to higher rate on their WANs to support VPN,” he said. “When VPN first started going in, people were supporting them on fairly low rate lines. Now what we are seeing, with more people working as telecommuters and with more access to the Internet via cable modem or DSL…the data that companies are needing to support is a lot higher. We needed to accelerate the platform itself.”
Geared primarily for large enterprise customers, the ANG-7050 offers increased performance at the same cost as the previous 7000. Kanellakis said that Enterasys customers are looking for increased throughput and capability because they plan on implementing higher WAN speeds.
“A lot of (customers) haven’t gone to higher speeds yet, but they are basically saying that in the next six to eight months (they) are going to be doing that and (they) need us to be prepared. The 7050 is basically an incremental increase in throughput for that product line.”
According to Joel Conover, senior analyst, e-business infrastructure for Current Analysis in Sterling, Va., the release of the 7050 has put Enterasys on par with the competition.
“What Enterasys is doing is extending the value and maintaining a competitive front,” Conover said. “They have already got significant strength in their solution. It is easy to set up, it is price competitive, it integrates with all the major platforms in terms of PKI, and then on top of that, they have essentially lowered the price for a higher performance product. From a capacity standpoint, they are on a very level playing field.”
The ANG-7050 is available now and a trade-up program is in effect for existing ANG-7000 customers. For more information, visit www.enterasys.com.
