Nortel next week will unveil the latest updates to its secure networking lineup, including new remote-access management software, a higher performance Contivity VPN platform and software that expands an enterprise's ability to ensure every remote connection is safe.

The enhancements, Tuesday demonstrated at the NetWorld+Interop trade show in Las Vegas, constitute the third phase of Nortel's Secure Routing Technology initiative, kicked off last year. They are meant to help companies easily secure ever larger numbers of remote offices and users trying to reach central sites by a variety of methods.

With the Contivity 5000 platform, Nortel will boost data throughput at the top of its Contivity line to 400M bit/sec from 180M bit/sec in its previous fastest product. That means it is designed to process as much as 400M bit/sec of traffic with Triple-DES. Though it supports the same number of simultaneous VPN tunnels - 5,000 - as the existing top-end product, more traffic can go through those tunnels, said Nick Pegley, vice president and general manager of Enterprise IP Services at Nortel. The platform also has routing, firewall, bandwidth management and quality-of-service (QoS) capabilities. The devices can be clustered behind a Nortel Alteon load-balancing platform, with a single IP address, so VPN demand can be spread across the devices.

The capabilities of the Contivity line also will get a boost with a new release of software, Contivity 4.8, which will let administrators put even tighter restrictions on access to a VPN. In addition to a logon, a password and a piece of client software, they will be able to require that a client system be configured in a certain way and be currently running the critical software, such as antivirus software. That will help prevent interlopers breaking into a system by changing its characteristics - for example, turning off a required client firewall - after being admitted to the network. The system will check clients periodically and administrators can set the time interval at which the checks take place, said David Passamonte, a senior engineer at Nortel.

Also coming to the Contivity line will be Remote Access Manager software, which can help enterprises make sure their traveling employees always have the best available source of dial-up access and can easily select it. The software can maintain lists of local access numbers for multiple carriers, which can be updated with new information about prices and service levels. Users can be presented with a choice of access numbers for their location, along with ratings as to its price and quality, said John Doyle, director of product marketing for corporate edge services.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.