Unisphere Delivers Carrier-Grade VPN Services

April 3, 2002 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Unisphere Networks Inc. (unispherenerworks.com), a provider of carrier-class IP infrastructure products, introduced on Tuesday a new suite of IP Services designed to provide carrier-grade migration, performance and scale for network-based virtual private networks.

The Edge-Optimized VPN Suite, a complete set of Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPN technologies available for Unisphere Networks’ Edge Routers, says the company, enables carriers to more quickly provision a menu of Layer 2, wholesale, MPLS and encrypted VPN technology on a single platform with wire speed performance.

Based on Unisphere’s common operating system, Unison OS, says the company, the Edge-Optimized VPN Suite is designed to bridge the gap between Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic, providing a path for existing frame relay customers to migrate to either IP or MPLS infrastructure.

The new VPN suite, says Unisphere, is optimized for performance, using the new IPSec module to allow service providers to offer encrypted VPNs for data transport with wire-speed performance, with support for up to 5,000 encrypted IPSec tunnels per line module.

And according to Unisphere, the Edge-Optimized VPN suite offers carrier-class scalability, allowing service providers to create more than 1,000 virtual private routers from a single edge router, allowing as many as 1,000 customers to have their own discrete VPN with protected address space, secure routing tables, independent management access and subscriber control from a single platform.

"Service Providers are looking to generate incremental revenue by offering new IP services, like network-based VPNs. To do that they need a router that was purpose-built and optimized to more quickly and more easily deploy services at the edge of the network," said Chris Lawler, vice president and general manager, IP Routing Business Unit, Unisphere Networks. "Our Edge-Optimized VPN Suite allows service providers to create and deploy VPN services that their customers want, while reaping the benefits of scale from a network-based IP VPN model."