Networld+Interop: The network is as crucial as ever

IDG News Service - BOSTON -- The network is becoming more crucial to corporations and service providers, and ways to protect, manage, store data on and improve networks will be on display May 6-11 at the 15th annual Networld+Interop conference and exposition in Las Vegas.

Attendees can expect plenty of offerings in network management, virtual private network (VPN) and network security technologies, storage-area networks, wireless and broadband LANs, and products based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 and Windows NT, according to the show's exhibitor list.

The show will feature keynote speeches by top IT executives, such as Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel Corp.; Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande, co-founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks Inc.; Scott Kriens, chairman, president and CEO of Juniper Networks Inc.; James Richardson, senior vice president at Cisco Systems Inc.; and Ross Ireland, chief technical officer at SBC Communications Inc.

The conference attracted more than 65,000 participants last year. This year, more than 880 vendors will be on hand at the Las Vegas Convention Center, said Valerie Williamson, president of Interop Worldwide, a division of Los Angeles-based Key3Media Events Inc. The show will have vendors from around the globe, such as China-based Huawei Technologies Co., and pavilions will feature Korean, U.K. and Israeli technology and companies, she said.

Many of the major IT corporations will be at the show, including IBM, EMC Corp., Nortel Networks Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., Sprint Corp., Deutsche Telekom AG, Qwest Communications International Inc., Corning Inc., Compaq Computer Corp. and Computer Associates International Inc.

Some of the products expected to be announced include the following:

• Lake Success, N.Y.-based Canon U.S.A. Inc. will introduce an optical wireless transceiver, the Model DT-30, which is optimized for the shorter data links in urban areas and campus networks.



• Cisco will announce a new multiservice access router targeted at small and medium-size businesses and branch offices. The product will be available this month.



• Wakefield, Mass.-based Entuity Inc. plans to announce an update to its Eye of the Storm network management software. The company, which has offices in the U.K. and the U.S., will demonstrate the new software, which will offer a range of new management features. The announcement from Entuity is expected Tuesday.



• Salt Lake City-based FatPipe Networks will release Multi-Path VPN and WARP. The products provide greater redundancy, reliability and speed for bidirectional Internet Protocol traffic. Multi-Path VPN will also provide greater security than conventional VPNs, according to the company.



• Brampton, Ontario-based Nortel will unveil a new technology strategy in the Metro Optical and Ethernet space. The announcements will include a new customer, partner endorsements and new products.



• San Antonio, Texas-based SBC Communications will announce the next phase of Project Pronto, its broadband technology rollout. SBC also will explain its plans to deliver fiber-optic connections to smaller businesses and residential customers.



• Holtsville, N.Y.-based Symbol Technologies Inc. will introduce an 802.11b Compact Flash wireless LAN adapter designed for personal digital assistants, a new security scheme to support mobility on 802.11b networks and the first 802.11b and H.323 standards-based wireless voice over IP handset for corporate-level telephony.



• Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based Xircom Inc., a division of Intel, will also introduce a new wireless LAN product.