Quarry Technologies is introducing firewall and VPN capabilities for its service edge switches that enable carriers to protect traffic between customer sites rather than just within carriers' networks.
With iQsec firewall and VPN software running on Quarry's iQ4000 and iQ8000 switches at customer premises, service providers can initiate and terminate VPNs at customer sites and not leave access lines unprotected. As an alternative, service providers could also place the devices at their points of presence, which would require customers to buy unprotected access to the POP for their VPN service.
The firewall software is designed to support multiple virtual systems so a single iQ4000 or iQ8000 chassis can support many customers, each having what appears to be an independent firewall. A single iQ4000 or iQ8000 supports 128,000 virtual systems.
Both the firewall and VPN software are written by Quarry. The company says the VPN software is compliant with the IP Security standard and is interoperable with gear made by Cisco Systems Inc., Netscreen Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks Corp. and SonicWall Inc.
Other vendors such as Cosine Communications Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc. and Nortel already offer similar software on their service switches.
The VPN software was part of an earlier release of Quarry's system software, and the firewall is part of the latest version scheduled for April 15 availability.
IQsec packages come on the iQ4000 and iQ8000 chassis. The iQ4000 option includes the chassis, a power supply and control processor, switch, encryption and Gigabit Ethernet cards for US$65,000. The iQ8000 option comes with an extra power supply and a larger switch fabric for $85,000.
