Nortel speeds SSL, secures VOIP and WLANs

IDG News Service - As part of an overall unified security architecture, Nortel Networks Ltd. on Monday launched two products: the Alteon SSL 410 for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) extranets and Contivity Secure IP Services Gateways for clear-text routing.
The Alteon SSL 410 creates SSL extranets by managing user SSL sessions and proxy applications, said Nortel spokesman Rob Turner. The product, available for order now in all of the markets Nortel serves, is being marketed to medium-size and large enterprise customers as an alternative to traditional IP virtual private networks, Turner said.
The SSL 410 is more efficient than other options, such as the Apache Web server, which serves up pages through SSL, Turner said. "The SSL 410 has the ability to complete 2,000 transactions per second while maintaining 16,000 current sessions, all of this with back-end encryption," Turner said.
The SSL 410 is priced at $24,995, Turner said.
The Alteon SSL 410 also provides user authentication and advanced filtering functions, which can be used for extranet and application access control, along with SSL session initiation for remote users.
"A range of businesses would benefit from Alteon SSL 410, including businesses involved in e-commerce, data centers or those offering carrier services," Turner said. Enterprise customers will gain increased security coupled with better flexibility, he said.
The Alteon SSL 410 has the ability to consolidate keys and certificates on the appliance for easier management and configuration, while the intranet applications can work with wireless devices such as Web-enabled mobile phones and handheld computers, Turner said.
Nortel also announced the second phase of its secure routing technology on Contivity, which expands the IP security elements into applications such as wireless LANs and voice over IP, the Brampton, Ontario-based company said in a statement.
The Contivity software, release 4.7, enables Contivity IP Services Gateways to be deployed as access routers that can be equipped with other IP service functions, the company said. "It's a software feature with eight different flavors, from low-end boxes to high-end boxes," Turner said.
The Contivity software can secure all types of IP services, including voice, wireless and frame relay services, and allows users to take a building-block approach to infrastructure. "We can disable the functionality you don't need from Day One, and a company also doesn't have to change out an operating system," Turner said.