Lucent has come out with two VPN/firewall appliances and a new version of the software to manage them that make the devices suitable for handling VoIP traffic as well as to connect to over vendor's security gear.

The 9.1 version of Lucent Security Management Server supports rules-based routing that directs designated traffic to third party security platforms. So, for example, it could divert all SMTP traffic to a virus scanner, but not divert VoIP Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) traffic there.

The new firewalls support technology called dynamic pinholing that opens firewall ports for VoIP traffic, for instance, leaving the ports open only for the duration of the call, and then closing them. This feature is not unique to Lucent, but it is valuable in VoIP deployments.

The two new appliances, VPN Firewall Brick 700 and VPN Firewall Brick 1200 are designed for large corporate deployments or carriers. The 700 has a 1.7Gbps firewall and the 1200 has a high speed model that supports a 4.5Gbps firewall and a standard model that supports a 3Gbps firewall.

VPN performance for the 700 is 425Mbps with DES3 encryption and 350Mbps for AES encryption. The 1200 high-speed encryption numbers are 1.7Gbps DES3 and 1.7Gbps AES. The standard 1200 encryption speed is 1.1Gbps for both DES3 and AES.

The Brick 700 costs $12,000 to $17,000 depending on configuration, and the 1200 standard costs $30,000. The 1200 high speed model costs $60,000 to $70,000 depending on configuration.Large businesses embarking on VoIP projects might want to consider these new devices.

Tim Greene is senior editor at Network World.