Cisco, Extreme, Enterasys and Foundry to launch security-oriented boxes

Vendors at Interop this week will continue to blur the line between security and network infrastructure products, with Cisco, Extreme, Enterasys and Foundry expected to launch protection-oriented switches and routers.

The 20th anniversary show will also feature key product rollouts from network acceleration, management, VoIP, security and wireless firms, and is expected to attract 18,000 attendees and 330 exhibitors.

But it is the trend of melding security and infrastructure that could attract the most attention. The development has grown steadily over the last six to 12 months, as vendors bought or developed security features for equipment that once only moved packets.

Also: Get the latest news from Interop
Plus: John Gallant's Vortex blog analyzes the battle for network access control, Cisco's strategy, Juniper's strategy and Microsoft's strategy.

Analysts and users say security is too important to have as just a service bolted onto a switched or routed network; intrusion-detection and -prevention systems (IDS/IPS), VPN, encryption and other services need to be woven into the fabric of network gear.

Cisco is launching several upgrades to its 7200 Services Aggregation Router, a device usually deployed in the main office of an enterprise, which can tie together Cisco Integrated Service Routers (ISR) in hundreds of branch sites. It is built to handle OC-3 and higher channelized T-1 and T-3 links.

A new Network Processing Engine G2 (NPE-G2) doubles the routing performance of previous NPE blades, Cisco says, with a faster processor and more memory. This allows the box to take on more IOS-based security functions without choking throughput. The greater capacity is meant to accommodate faster boxes that may run in enterprise branches, if customers recently upgraded to more powerful ISRs on the other end.

For site-to-site and remote access VPNs, Cisco is scheduled to launch the VPN Services Adapter, which allows a 7200 router to process IPSec VPN traffic three times faster than a box running only IOS VPN services, the company says. Encryption standards supported include Triple Data Encryption Standard and Advanced Encryption Standard, with 128- to 256-bit key encryption.

To fill larger WAN pipes with the added processing power, Cisco is introducing a third module - the Port Adapter Jacket Card, which can add as much as 50% bandwidth to the router, Cisco says. This module adds a seventh service card slot to the device, which could be plugged with another channelized dual T-3 or another OC-3 connection into the router.

"There are a ton of these out there," regarding the 7200 router, says Zeus Kerravala, a Yankee Group analyst. "Anything that extends the life of these routers is good for investment protecting to customers." For branch offices, "the ISR has been one of the best-selling products Cisco has ever had; with this whole concept of branch office consolidation, these upgrades to the 7200 make sense.

Extreme and Enterasys are expected to announce plans to integrate IDS/IPS and other security features into their network gear, while Foundry plans to announce a massive-scale data center switch with packet tracing and secure routing features. Meanwhile, Cisco is focusing on the WAN, with an upgrade to its 7200 router that boosts VPN, firewall and overall WAN routing throughput and performance.