Another VPN equipment vendor is poised to enter the market, this time with an interesting sales pitch. Flatrock claims its equipment lets any organization install secure links over any type of network in just a day.
Flatrock plans to announce its equipment, called Instant Extranet application router, in January.
According to the company, users set up the secure link by placing one of the company's boxes at each site involved in the extranet. A separate Instant Extranet box, called a provider application router, must also be on the network and accessible by all the other Instant Extranet devices. End users must also have software on their browsers that gives them access to their local Instant Extranet application router.
End users click on the application they want to access, and the local application router in conjunction with the provider application router, sets up the secure connection.
The provider application router can control an enterprise or a service provider network.
The device combines the features of load balancing, VPN, bandwidth management and remote provisioning, all attractive to enterprises. But apparently, the gear can be used by service providers as well to support VPN services; each device includes software to monitor service-level agreements as well as performance. It provides data on throughput, packet loss, latency and availability.
All of these features could be attractive to enterprises, but perhaps the most interesting feature is the claim that you can set up a link in a day. Often new business alliances or the acquisition of another company pressure IT departments to connect networks quickly. Many enterprises have used VPNs to do just this.
Instant Extranet differs from traditional VPN gear in that it operates over any network, not necessarily an IP network, and operates in harmony with whatever firewall the enterprise already has in place.
More on this when the company is ready to answer questions. In the meantime, check out Flatrock at:
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Tim Greene is a senior editor at Network World, covering virtual private networking gear, remote access, core switching and local phone companies. You can reach him at tgreene@nww.com.
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