Category: Routers world

Brocade launches management tools and 100GbE router

Brocade has launched Advisor Brocade network, a converged platform for managing storage area networks and IP networks, and high density of 100 Gb Ethernet router as part of its overall strategy for data centers.

The products, announced Wednesday, are part of Brocade specializes in networking is a strategy that aims to simplify the architecture of the modern data center. Compete with the data center packages offered by other hardware companies such as Cisco Unified Information System and the state of Juniper Networks Project.

“Brocade Advisory Network (BNA) helps reduce customer operating costs, minimizing training, increased automation and consolidation of tools,” said Jason Nolet, Vice President Data Center of the company and the network group business, in a statement.

SonicWALL TZ 210

The king of the small business market security, SonicWALL recently added six new models of its popular TZ series of UTM (Unified Threat Management) articles, offering a mix of enhanced functionality and improved performance. Designed to serve the band for the man up, the new range is headed by the TZ 210 which, as we discovered, clearly the gap between SMEs and the company’s products – at a price that the competition will find difficult match.

The USB ports on the front of the TZ 210 can be used to add a 3G wireless adapter or an analog modem. In the back, the TZ 210 has two Gigabit Ethernet ports and five Fast Ethernet interfaces.

Available with or without an integrated access point Wireless-N (802. 11n), the TZ 210 has two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces on the back, labeled WAN and LAN, the Internet and local network connection, respectively. Along with five network ports that can be used for a variety of purposes, including additional LAN / WAN connectivity with built-in load balancing and failover, but these are all Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) only, Gigabit place (10 / 100/1000) enabled. In the front, you also get two USB ports for a 3G wireless security device and / or to connect to an analog modem to further increase WAN bandwidth and protect against service failures.

In terms of performance, the firewall in the TZ-210 can inspect traffic at speeds up to 100Mbps. UTM services applied to the halves of 50 Mbps, but still an impressive figure for a device in this price segment. Indeed, it is sufficient to protect the WAN links up very large organizations and more than enough, when the equipment is used for secure connections to branch offices distributed. Installation on our test network (more modest) had a few minutes, following the instructions in the large get-started guide, which includes a lot of useful examples that show how to deal with different network deployments. Most of the initial work carried out by configuration wizards, which certainly helped us – especially with the configuration of the VPN. However, they can not do everything possible to, once the basic setup is complete, it is common to Web-based interface for more detailed settings, or in large networks, SonicWALL GMS (Global Management System) software.

There was no option to inspect SSL encrypted traffic for threats, but can scan compressed files and enforce antivirus protection in the local network equipment. Plus there’s a helpful guest service option for wireless users to allow visitors, for example, to connect to the Internet but do not sniff the corporate LAN. You can even use the TZ 210 to manage security on wireless access points, although only the SonicWALL hardware is used.

Browser was used for our tests and found the interface easy to navigate. On the negative side, a certain degree of technical knowledge is assumed and some of the options took time to exercise. But that is par for the course of this type of device, and it took just under an hour for firewall and antivirus key services up and use the content filtering service to stop users to browse sites we wanted to block. We also found it easy to the area of our network and implement different policies for each – and even scan and filter traffic passing between the zones.

Another point to note is that most services must be licensed before they can be used. Go to the device you naked and free trials usual. However, I recommend the total security package, which includes licenses for the gateway antivirus, spyware, content filtering and intrusion prevention services. This adds £ 113 (VAT) the price of the TZ 210, but it’s cheaper to buy separate licenses. Plus it’s good to go immediately with a full year of updates and support, after which there are several ways to extend their protection – one of the cheapest for a three year old license Comprehensive Gateway Security Suite for £ 406 ( VAT).

BT Business Hub

BT’s Business Hub allows organizations to create a wireless access point Openzone facilities in a separate channel of your corporate network. The idea is that businesses such as restaurants, hotels, cafes and fitness centers can offer free Wi-Fi access as an incentive to attract more customers through the door, or generate additional revenue by selling vouchers Openzone. BT case studies include a hotel that has seen revenues increase by 10 percent, offering wireless internet for guests. Advance is noteworthy that the maximum number of users that can connect to this network separate Openzone – with a speed limited to 512Kbps – is just 13. This is not a solution for large organizations.

Broadband business of BT Total includes business center (2700HGV) with 8 Mbps unlimited ‘Option 2’ (£ 25/month) and Option 3 (£ 30/month) packages. The 12. £ 99 per month Option 1 package is capped at 10 GB per month, and you have to pay £ 59 (VAT) for its own business center.

Once installed and configured, BT Openzone subscribers (and others with the use of credits Openzone) can access your access point as they would with any access point BT Openzone. Use a Wi-Fi device to find the separate SSID and connect to BT Openzone through BT Openzone login page. Other users have to buy access time for your company, offering a new source of income. Alternatively, you can give access to the Internet as a way to attract customers.

BT Business Hub allows you to establish a secure access point for BT Openzone in the premises of your business. It can be used to generate revenue, or to attract customers free Internet access.

The business center is a relatively attractive router – partly due to the fact that all three Wi-Fi antennas are all internal – measuring 23cm by 19cm by 4 cm and weighs 640g. Protected by a silver casing with a black finish fetching mesh on each side, the business center – which costs £ 90.85 if purchased separately – can be placed horizontally or vertically through a plastic holder to match. The bottom of the device has four rubber feet help prevent slipping on a table or desk and promote air flow. Unfortunately there is no dedicated switch: the large button on the front of the Business Hub – you’d expect to turn the device – is actually used to encrypt the Wi-Fi connections.

Business center setup is simple, and BT kindly provided instructions for disabling the wireless access point (although this is limited to demand to go to a secure website and uncheck the option). The Welcome Pack includes a clearly written printed Quick Start Guide, along with an installation wizard step by step based on CD. You can configure and manage the business center through a clean interface and intuitive Web-based technical jargon kept to a minimum.

The BT Business Hub 10/100 Ethernet ports to provide wired network, and there is only one USB (1.1) connector. There is a built-in 802.11b / g access point Wi-Fi, of course, plus a broadband modem integrated with a single dose of DSL in the rear. The reset button and power connector (AC adapter provided) are also in the back. Two voice lines derived are supported by chip RJ-11 (useful for VoIP), and there is a functionality even ‘break out’ (to make and receive calls from PSTN line), along with RTC functionality failover in the first telephone line. The business center is software upgradeable to support a SIP user agent back-to-back. ”

Standard NAT / PAT and Security Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) is provided, as well as 64/128 bit WEP, WPA and WPA2, to help defend against Denial of Internet Service (DoS). Integrated business center Firewall Monitor Service also continuously assesses threats to the network, which provides notification on the screen of the attacks, and provide details about attacks blocked and their sources. Updates to help protect against new threats are downloaded automatically.

The business center includes the detection of content for Web sites with inappropriate content and Internet access control, which allows network administrators to restrict Internet access to certain days of the week and hours a day.

It argues that the business center is “optimized for ADSL improve average performance.” It also says the device can minimize interference from other devices such as dimmer switches, fluorescent lamps. Although this is difficult to assess in normal working conditions, we can report that within two weeks of tests that found no significant wireless interference, and broadband performance was generally very stable.

offers Wi-Fi access can add value to your business. And companies may sell bonds Hub BT Openzone for visitors and bring in some income, or share your bandwidth free to attract new customers. The service is still limited to 8 Mbps, so it can not compete with the dizzying speed of 50 Mbps fiber optic services from Virgin Media. If you are looking to implement the same wireless access point dedicated, but without the cost of creating this infrastructure, BT Business Hub is a solid piece of game with a reasonable rate structure. Not suitable for large organizations, and that only supports 13 simultaneous connections in the channel Openzone, but could be useful for small businesses.

AVM Fritz!Box Fon WLAN 7390

AVM isn’t a particularly well-known brand in the UK, but in Germany it’s the top ADSL router manufacturer, with over 50 percent market share. The Fritz!Box Fon WLAN 7390 adds several new features to those of the ageing flagship model, the WLAN 7270, while retaining much of that device’s styling.

Speed is the main theme of the 7370: it features four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, support for 100Mbps VDSL2 internet connections, plus concurrent 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networking, courtesy of two Atheros AR9220 chips. The external 2×3 MIMO antenna configuration of the 7270 has been replaced by an internal 2×2 setup, with each radio having a dual antenna PCB located under the small case ‘fins’.

There’s an integrated modem supporting ADSL, ADSL2+ or VDSL2 services, or alternatively it can connect direct via ISDN, a cable modem or a 3G USB dongle in one of the two USB ports. The analogue phone line port is shared with the DSL port, necessitating the use of a proprietary Y-cable (supplied) if you want to integrate fixed line telephony with the VoIP functions. For cable modems, one of the LAN ports has to be sacrificed. The rear port layout is identical to the 7270, with two analogue phone ports and an ISDN S0 port. The second USB port is located at the side of the unit; both ports support printers (via a supplied software applet) or USB storage devices.

AVM has made sure that setup and configuration is as simple as possible, with a connection wizard kicking in the first time you launch a browser after commissioning the router. Wizards are also used to setup the telephony features that are one of the 7390’s prime strengths — although they are little changed from those found on the 7270.

In addition to eight ISDN devices, an analogue line and two analogue telephony devices, the 7390 supports up to 10 SIP accounts and has five built-in answering machines plus fax reception. An integrated DECT base station can handle up to six GAP-compatible handsets. Call diversion is easy to setup, as are dialling rules. Failback to the fixed line in the case of VoIP failure can be enabled, but if router power fails analogue phones aren’t passed through to the fixed line.

The 7390 is mainly focused on consumers, so digging down to more advanced networking settings requires the ‘Expert’ mode to be enabled. This gives additional menu options such as port forwarding and static route creation, but this isn’t a router with advanced traffic management capabilities. A ‘Child Protection’ feature simply restricts web access per device on a customisable schedule. There are basic bandwidth management features, allowing you to define TCP/UDP port ranges or specific protocols (GRE, ESP or ICMP) as ‘real-time’, ‘prioritized’ or ‘background’. Eight simultaneous Ipsec VPN connections are supported, using AVM’s own free client software and configuration wizard. The manual and context-sensitive help are commendably clear and concise.

We tried out a 3G connection with Huawei E160G and ZTE MF627 dongles, but only the Huawei unit was recognised. 3G can’t be used as an automatic backup connection, though — it has to be enabled manually. Wireless settings are comprehensive, with a handy site monitor. Transmit power can be managed automatically and the radios scheduled to shut down at night. Using Passmark Software’s network throughput tests, we found 2.4GHz performance to be on a par with the 7270, achieving a respectable 60Mbps at 1m and around 10Mbps at 25Mbps in a noisy domestic environment; 5GHz performance tailed off rapidly over about 10m.

Unusually, the 7390 has 512MB of internal Flash file storage, enabling the NAS and media streaming options to be tried out without adding an external device. It’s also used by AVM to store some of the product documentation. Storage can be accessed via Samba or FTP, although there’s only a single level of password protection available. Media files can be streamed to any UPnP device.

AVM tends to add lots of new features via firmware updates, and the 7390 is due a major new revision almost immediately it starts shipping to the UK. This adds a guest wireless network capability and some enhancements to the NAS features, as well as full IPv6 support. There are some major tweaks to the user interface too, although as we only saw a beta version we’re not sure of the full extent of these.

Cisco pledges $500m to East London Tech City

A newly formed initiative called the British Innovation Gateway (BIG) will funnel a tranche of the “long-term” $500m (£313m) investment of money, technology and manpower into areas in east London, the networking company and prime minister David Cameron jointly announced on Monday.

“I welcome this major statement of support from Cisco,” Cameron said in a statement. “East London [is] set to become a leading Tech City.”

The announcement sees Cisco follow up on commitments made in November to add resources to the East London Tech City project. The scheme will see a range of international technology companies — including Google, Facebook, Vodafone and Intel — make investments in the area around the Olympic Park and Shoreditch, which is home to many tech start-ups.

In addition, some funding will go towards building networks to link innovation hubs across the UK and create a prize, part of Cisco’s I-Prize innovation contest, to reward small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with creative business ideas. The winners will receive mentoring, training and access to in-house resources from Cisco.

“The direct expenditures associated with the BIG initiative will be spent on a mix of technology and ICT infrastructure services, human resources applied to SME mentoring and incubation, I-Prize funding and establishment and operation of physical facilities in east London,” said Phil Smith, Cisco’s chief executive for the UK and Ireland.

The British Innovation Gateway will be the start of a five-year project to foster the growth of high-tech small businesses, according to the Santa Clara-based networking specialist.

“Cisco anticipates that the rest of the investment goal it will make related to BIG will be in innovative UK [small and medium-sized enterprises] emerging as a result of BIG. This investment must remain unspecified for obvious reasons,” Smith said.

As part of the initiative, Cisco will create two linked ‘innovation centres’ in Shoreditch and the Olympic Park. The centres will use networked collaboration technology to connect with other centres across the UK and the globe. In addition, Cisco plans to build networks to hook into other clusters in east London, such as the Digital Peninsula in Greenwich.

Elizabeth Varley, chief executive of Techhub, a hub for start-up companies in the east end of London, believes that the investment in the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ area around Old Street and Shoreditch is a savvy move for the US networking giant.

“I can see the value to big companies like Cisco in terms of tapping in,” Varley said. “If you’re not immersed in that culture and community, it can be difficult to establish something like it.”