Genuity Expands Managed VPN and Security Services

March 25, 2002 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Genuity Inc. (genuity.com), a leading provider of Internet infrastructure services and e-business network platforms, announced on Monday that it has introduced several new and enhanced managed security and virtual private network services, designed to provide enterprise-wide connectivity and reduce the costs associated with communications between headquarters and branch offices.

The new services, says Genuity, are available in more than 50 countries and include such advancements as a 100 percent high-availability firewall service level agreement and a new cost-effective branch office VPN solution.

The first of the new services, Genuity’s enhanced Site Patrol Enterprise Managed Security service, incorporates the market-leading Nokia Internet Protocol series security platform of integrated firewalls and VPNs with Genuity’s own around-the-clock monitoring, hardware and software maintenance and security policy management.

The most notable feature of the new Site Patrol EMS service, says Genuity, is the high-availability option, that scales from large headquarters to branch office, and provides the 100 percent firewall SLA. Measured daily, the new SLA provides customers with a full day’s credit in the case of any firewall down time during that day.

Genuity says it has also introduced its new VPN Branch Office Service to further address the security needs of branch office customers. The service, says the company, provides secure IP-based connectivity to enterprises with numerous branch offices, or that wish to establish business-to-business extranets.

The branch office solution, says Genuity, is an effort to address the cost concerns associated with implementing a branch office VPN, supplying customers with complete managed VPN services for less than $250 per month, per location.

Finally, says Genuity, the company announced that it has enhanced its VPN Advantage for Contivity service, its managed VPN service. VPN Advantage 3.0, the latest version, has been expanded to support Nortel Networks Contivity 4600 and 600 gateways, giving customers more options when building their solution.

"Companies with multiple locations such as retailers, healthcare organizations and manufacturers, are under enormous pressure to install end-to-end network security across all of their locations," says John Summers, director of product strategy at Genuity. "All of our new and enhanced services offer more secure, cost-effective, and flexible alternatives to the current solutions commonplace within these market segments. Genuity offers the broadest and most comprehensive suite of managed security services on the market today and can provide customers with the type of end-to-end security they need, while at the same time reducing their overall communications costs."

All the new and enhanced managed VPN and security services, says Genuity, are currently available, and designed to compliment the company’s existing dedicated access service, and the recently introduced Black Rocket Voice enterprise VoIP service.