Shiva Corp. this week at NetWorld+Interop will announce a single box that has all it takes to support ISDN or analog phone access to corporate LANs and the Internet.
LanRover Access Switch eliminates the need for stand-alone data service units (DSU) and modem pools.
The switch also reduces the number of wide-area lines coming into the central site by aggregating individual analog calls and ISDN Basic Rate Interface calls onto 1.55M-bits-per-second T-1/Primary Rate Interface ISDN lines.
Russ Lane, network integrator for American Express Financial Advisers in Minneapolis, said the device would let him get rid of four cabinets of Shiva LanRover access boxes, all the wiring between them, and the DSUs and modem pools. It is also easier to manage a single device, he noted.
The switch chassis has 11 slots, with one reserved for the CPU and one for an Ethernet connection. The rest can be filled with either two-port T- 1/PRI ISDN cards or digital modem cards that each contain 12 V.34 modems.
In a typical configuration, a remote user would dial a single phone number for access to a T-1/PRI port on the switch. If the call was from an analog phone, it would be switched to one of the V.34 modems. If it was an ISDN call, it would be switched directly from the T-1/PRI card. It also lets central-site users dial out.
In other configurations, the switch could connect two LANs over a dedicated T-1 or connect LAN and remote users to the Internet over a dedicated T-1.
The switch comes with Shiva Remote client software, which supports Windows, Unix and OS/2 operating systems, as well as PPP, SLIP, IPX, TCP/IP and NETBEUI protocols.
To address the security concerns that come with remote access, the switch comes with Shiva's own Net Manager User List Server. But it supports other security methods, as well. Those include dial-back, Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol and Password Authentication Protocol.
The switch also has several management platform options. It supports Shiva's Windows-based management system, Shiva NetManager, and a new Unix- based version of Shiva NetManager.
They offer real-time monitoring of usage, which can be used for network planning and billing.
The device minimizes dial-up costs by breaking the connection when the remote user is not actively sending and receiving data, and automatically reconnecting when the line is needed.
Developed in conjunction with Northern Telecom Inc., the switch is being marketed to carriers and Internet service providers by Nortel as the Rapport Dialup Switch.
Later this year, Shiva will release Fast Ethernet, frame relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode cards.
Shiva: +1 (617) 270-8300.