* Juniper speeds up VPN servers
Juniper has goosed up the horsepower on its top-end VPN servers to support the busiest data centers.
The company has come out with two new security-processing modules for its two NetScreen 5000-series firewall/VPN chassis that push the maximum throughput to match OC-192 levels.
This means only businesses with the highest traffic volumes will need these boxes, such as financial firms moving massive amounts of transaction data or universities transferring high-volume research results. Service providers can also use the gear for providing firewall/VPN protection to customers.
By adding processing power to the cards, the capacity of the NetScreen 5200 can be pushed from a 4G bit/sec firewall and 2G bit/sec VPN to a 10G bit/sec firewall and a 5G bit/sec VPN. The NetScreen 5400 goes from a 12G bit/sec firewall and 6G bit/sec VPN to a 30G bit/sec firewall and a 15G bit/sec VPN.
Each chassis holds one management card. The 5200 has a single slot for a security processing card and the 5400 has three. Much of the processing power comes from Juniper application-specific integrated circuits, which are one of the strong points of Juniper VPN gear.
The new cards also handle packet fragmentation, taking this processing-sapping task away from the management card. Packets that approach the maximum transmission unit must be fragmented before being tunneled because tunneling adds headers that push them over the MTU size limit.
The cards come with either eight mini gigabit interface converter (GBIC) optical ports or two 10G bit/sec (OC-192) Ethernet ports with either short-range or long-range optics. Extended-range ports are planned for a future release, the company says.
A NetScreen 5200 with a management card and security card costs $114,000. A NetScreen 5400 with the same cards costs $148,000.
