3Com enhances VPN software

By Jim Duffy
Network World Fusion, 03/13/00

3Com this week will unveil software for its virtual private network switches and routers that is intended to bring business-class telephony to VPNs while improving client access, security and manageability.

The software for 3Com's PathBuilder WAN systems lets enterprise customers deploy their own site-to-site or client-to-site VPNs to support business applications, or use ISPs and application service providers for network services.

For voice-over-VPN, the PathBuilder software maps LAN quality-of-service bits to WAN QoS. Specifically, the software maps IEEE 802.1p priority bits in an Ethernet frame to IP type-of-service bits in an IP header to forward LAN-based voice traffic - such as that from 3Com's NBX LAN PBX - over an IP VPN WAN.

Sending voice over a VPN rather than a pure-vanilla IP WAN adds extra security to voice traffic because it's transmitted through encrypted VPN tunnels, users say.

"If you're in Timbuktu, Maine, and you want to dial in to some ISP that has national coverage, you wouldn't want to just stick voice out there unencrypted," says Jack Gammon, LAN/WAN analyst at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, Ala.

For enhanced access, the PathBuilder software includes an IP Security (IPSec) client for Windows 95, 98 and NT. With the introduction of Windows 2000, Microsoft has delivered an integrated IPSec client.

The so-called Transcend VPN Client is resold by 3Com under an OEM arrangement with VPN client software developer IRE. The software supports the Data Encryption Standard and Triple-DES encryption for enhanced security.

"Anything that raises the security stuff will be important for us, especially because we have a lot of students running [Windows] 95 and 98, and a few with NT," says Dave Kieper, associate director for IS at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

For ease of configuration, the PathBuilder software supports meshed site-to-site connectivity. The advantage of this is that the VPN software automatically discovers the shortest available path for routing without having to manually configure every neighboring path.

Security enhancements to the PathBuilder software are included in the Transcend VPN Application Suite. This software suite enables PathBuilder users to access digital certificates in order to securely identify themselves to other VPN users and initiate secure communications.

Transcend VPN Application Suite supports certificates from Entrust, VeriSign and RSA public-key infrastructure (PKI) products.

Transcend VPN Application Suite is priced at $2,995 and ships this month. Transcend VPN Client with 56-bit and 168-bit encryption starts at $250 per 100-user license and also ships this month. 3Com will support the Windows 2000 native client in mid-2000.