Bay, Ascend vie in VPN market
By Ben Heskett
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
May 4, 1998, 6:15 a.m. PT
Bay Networks and Ascend Communications are two
of many firms who plan to use the stage of the largest
networking-oriented trade show of the year to roll out
plans to add support for secure connections across the
Net, adding particular wrinkles in attempts to stand
out amid one of the most hyped technologies of the
year.
What is everyone rattling on about? VPNs, or virtual
private networks. The umbrella is used to term a set of
protocols that allow users to implement a secure
connection across the public network using tunneling
and encryption technologies. Some are targeting
emerging extranet commerce settings as a potential
bonanza, with partners able to get access to closely
held information from another company, if desired.
Ascend will announce a strategy to add VPN
capabilities across its line of
remote access equipment
and wide area frame and
cell-based switches at
Networld+Interop this
week. The networking
player will be among
several firms announcing
VPN products and services
at the show.
"We see the demand from our enterprise and service
provider customers is huge," said Kurt Bauer, vice
president of access product management at Ascend.
Dubbed "MultiVPN," the new strategy attempts to
offer software and hardware options for both
corporate enterprises and service providers, a key
market for Ascend's remote access equipment. The
new focus also wraps the company's IP Navigator
IP-based bandwidth management and routing
software as well as its Navis service-based network
management tools.
To buttress the firm's efforts, Ascend pointed to
several customers who are in the midst of deploying
VPN technologies, such as Kinko's and Infonet
Services.
Separately, Bay will launch a new model based on
technology acquired earlier this year from New Oak
Communications. The device combines network
access hardware with specialized software to
facilitate VPN capabilities.
The new Extranet Switch 1000 model, to ship next
week, is targeted for networks with the need to
connect up to 50 simultaneous users and is priced at
$7,000. The software component of the offering also
ties into various directory services software packages
from the likes of Novell and Microsoft, among others.
Various market research firms predict VPN-based
equipment and services will become a multibillion
market by the turn of the century. |
