INTEROP - Security highlighted at Interop

09.05.2005
Von Bob Francis

Interop may be a networking show, but security came in a close second at last week?s event.

Cisco, for instance, unveiled a new line of integrated security appliances, the ASA (Adaptive Security Architecture) 5500, a family of multifunction security appliances designed to stop attacks before they spread through the network. The new products are a key component of the recently announced Adaptive Threat Defense phase of the Cisco SDN (Self-Defending Network) security strategy.

The Cisco ASA 5500 Series controls network and application traffic, delivers flexible VPN connectivity, and is designed to reduce overall deployment costs, operation costs, and complexity. The Cisco ASA 5500 Series includes the Cisco ASA 5510 for branch offices, the Cisco ASA 5520 for SMBs, and the Cisco ASA 5540 for large enterprises.

?We put different capabilities in the product to allow it to run multiple processes and to have enough storage to perform all the functions we built into it,? said Jayshree Ullal, senior vice president of Cisco?s security and technology. Among the security functions integrated are VPNs, firewalls, intrusion prevention, and VOIP.

?The traditional deployment of security services results in product ?silos? and forces organizations to trade off between operational efficiency and holistic security,? said Joel Conover, analyst at Current Analysis. ?With integration, these systems are easier to manage and deploy.?

Cisco was hardly the only networking company involved in building integrated security products. 3Com recently acquired TippingPoint, an intrusion-detection vendor, to develop an integrated security portfolio. At the show, Juniper Networks introduced an integrated network architecture, called the Enterprise Infranet Architectural Framework. The new framework is a method of designing SSL VPN networks with increased security features.

If security was second to networking at Interop, VOIP was not far behind. Avaya, for instance, announced a new version of its IP telephony software, Avaya Communications Manager 3.0, along with several new applications designed to provide a more stable platform for VOIP. AT&T also unveiled an integrated line of VOIP services, called DNA (Dynamic Network Applications).