Internet Appliances: Converged Platforms, Connectivity, and Intelligent Oversubscription

By Mathew Steinberg

January 29, 2007

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Internet Appliances, such as Firewalls, VPNs, Intrusion Detection Systems, Load Balancers and Content Switches, are becoming increasingly more powerful. Appliances, once relegated to look aside or specialty processing, are becoming so powerful in fact, that many will soon have 10-gigabit throughput capability and will be used in-line to process network traffic. Increased throughput and capabilities are also leading to integration of more functionality (e.g. the combination of Routing + Firewall + VPN).

Many of the Ethernet links that connect to these Appliances and the network, however, remain underutilized. The increased functionality and throughput of upcoming platforms, combined with underutilized Ethernet links, is an excellent example of intelligent oversubscription to increase Ethernet connectivity and port densities, while simultaneously lowering per port costs. Ethernet aggregation solutions, from 10/100/Gigabit Ethernet to 10-Gigabit Ethernet, enable networking vendors to build multiple versions of platforms with new line interfaces simply by replacing Ethernet interface cards.

Converged Platforms

Today's distributed enterprises pose unprecedented demands on both local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). Enterprises may range from a single office small or medium business, to a large enterprise that connects thousands of offices and people across hundreds or thousands of miles. Information networks must be secure from intrusion and disruption. Enterprises with mission-critical applications must secure the data they transmit over the Internet, as well as protect internal networks from outside intrusion. The need for end-to-end, secure connectivity, and all that is included under this umbrella of security, has been driven by growing business demands and by the daily threats seen on the Internet. Stand-alone IP routers--the traditional means of connecting to the Internet--do not scale to meet the needed security requirements without expensive add-ons and performance overhead.

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