Cabletron Systems spinoff Enterasys is absorbing VPN startup Indus River Networks in a deal worth $US170 million, giving Enterasys highly manageable Indus River VPN equipment to augment its "adaptive infrastructure" architecture.
Indus River, founded in 1996, makes the RiverWorks line of equipment including a management platform and an intelligent VPN client. Enterasys is noted for its enterprise SmartSwitch routers.
The companies say they will announce within 60 days a high-capacity site-to-site VPN tunnel server that is a collaborative effort. The two companies also have collaborated on individual projects for customers that sought Enterasys gear and also needed VPN capabilities.
Enterasys CEO Henry Fiallo says his company already uses Indus River gear for its own internal VPN, which supports more than 500 users. In part because of that relationship, Enterasys became convinced the Indus River equipment is stable and easy to install.
Fiallo says Enterasys looked at other VPN equipment vendors including Altiga, which Cisco bought, and VPNet. But Enterasys wanted Indus River for its ability to scale to accommodate large VPNs and for its management software, which lets network executives manage VPN traffic priorities based on policies they set.
In addition, Indus River VPN software for remote PCs is easy for unsophisticated end users to deal with and contains features, such as automated least-cost dialing, that some other VPN clients lack, Fiallo says.
Indus River CEO Per Suneby says the deal makes it possible for Indus River VPN products to reach more customers through Enterasys' extensive sales channels. Because Enterasys carries Cabletron's reputation for reliability, customers will accept Indus River equipment more quickly than they would from a startup, Suneby says.
