Fortinet last week introduced a 10Gbps security blade for screening high-volume traffic in large organizations. The FortiController 5208 blade can aggregate traffic from smaller Fortinet security blades for uplinks to 10Gbps backbones. The device supports a firewall, VPN, anti-virus, anti-spyware and intrusion-prevention software. The software is sold in modules so a blade can perform one or more functions, and those functions can be changed over time as needs change. It meets Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture standards, which means it works in chassis built by other vendors whose gear meets the standards. The 5208 is available in the second half of 2006 and costs $45,000.

Infonetics research says sales of circuit-switched PBX phone systems dropped 11% in the first quarter of 2006, while IP PBX sales were up 1%. The combined circuit-switched/IP market for the quarter reached $2.1 billion in worldwide sales, up 15% from the first quarter of 2005. With IP systems growing slightly, and circuit-switched PBXs shrinking, the overall telephony market is in a transitional, hybrid state. This was reflected in the number of hybrid IP/TDM lines shipped in the first quarter, which accounted for 63% of all phone system line shipments. (A hybrid phone line is a connection capable of supporting either an IP or digital desktop phone.) Infonetics expects the migration from circuit-switched telephony to IP to pick up steam even more in the next three years. By 2009, IP phone systems are expected to grow 88%, while an 88% drop in traditional PBX system sales is forecasted, according to Infonetics.