Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Network Systems Corp has introduced the BorderGuard branch office router, said to be the first of its class to provide both firewall routing and support for secure communications across the Internet and other IP networks. The firewall routing software provides traffic control on the network, restricting user access to certain hosts and filtering network traffic by protocols, said the company, and it can logically segment users, creating closed user groups, and improve network efficiency by eliminating broadcast storms between networks. On the secure communications side, it comes equipped with the company’s own Data Privacy Feature encryption software. Apparently, this encrypts data packet-by-packet, using encryption algorithms including Data Encryption Standard and the International Data Encryption Algorithm. The company says the product is modular in design, featuring one interface dedicated to a single auto-sensing Ethernet (AUI/10Base-T) and one, two or three interfaces for wide area network links, each of which is reportedly capable of T1/E1 speeds. A second local area network interface option (either a Token Ring or an Ethernet interface board) will be available in early 1996. Wide area network protocols supported include Point-to-Point Protocol, X.25, Frame Relay, Switched Multimegabit Data Service and Vitalink Communications Protocol, while bridging functions include the IEEE’s 802.1d and Digital Equipment Corp’s Spanning Tree protocols. On the routing side, IP, Internet Packet Exchange, DECnet-IV and AppleTalk-II are supported. Finally, a RS232 console port is provided for network management, as are Telnet client, server Trivial File Transfer Protocol download (to Flash memory), Simple Network Management Protocol MIB II, and Frame Relay, Token Ring, Bridge and Switched Multimegabit Data Service Management Information Bases. Out now, the BorderGuard, including pre-loaded firewall software, starts at รบ1,200.
