Nortel Networks Unveils New Alteon Switched Firewall System Models

Tailored Approach Enables Customers to Right-Size First Line of Network Defense

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - October 8, 2002 - Nortel Networks* announced new models of the Alteon* Switched Firewall system designed to give enterprise and service provider customers greater flexibility to deny network access to unauthorized users and to defend against a plethora of viruses, hacker attacks, malicious code and other external attempts to breach their networks.

The new models - Alteon Switched Firewall 5710 for large enterprises and carriers, 5408 for medium-sized businesses, and 5100 for enterprises requiring an entry level solution - augment current models and enable companies to implement the network protection they require without having to buy capacity they do not need. All of the new models are currently available.

"Alteon Switched Firewall products have enabled us to use a holistic approach of building a data center network while ensuring the privacy and protection of our customers' data, which is absolutely critical in the managed hosting business," said Pasi Autio, Development Director, WM-data Infra Solutions.

"A key factor in our decision to deploy the Nortel Networks solution is the ability to provide virtual firewalls, so that we can provide our customers the ability to provision unique policies without having to purchase unique firewalls for each," Autio said. "Also, we found the performance of these products to lead the industry, but more importantly, the high-availability features are designed to ensure we can provide network security at all times."

"We are very excited about the new Alteon Switched Firewall models, which extend the overall performance, scalability and security of Nortel Networks switch-accelerated firewall architecture," said Osamu Shimazaki, manager, Document Solutions and Marketing Company, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

"For our customers, high performance isn't enough," Shimazaki said. "They also expect ease of deployment and device management. Alteon Switched Firewall plug-and-play provisioning and Single System Image upgrade capabilities simplify firewall administration and enable firewall capacity to scale without network disruption. By offering a broad range of high-performance security options at different price points, customers have greater flexibility in choosing the best deployment options to safeguard their data assets and network infrastructure."

All Alteon Switched Firewall models integrate FireWall-1* Next Generation from Check Point* Software Technologies Ltd. Through integration with FireWall-1 and Check Point's Next Generation SecureXL* performance architecture, Alteon Switched Firewall delivers industry-leading security at multi-gigabit throughput. Additionally, all Alteon Switched Firewall models have undergone a rigorous testing process to be certified as "Secured by Check Point" and interoperable with Check Point's OPSEC* (Open Platform for Security) framework.

Part of the recently announced Unified Security Architecture, the new firewall products offer flexibility with a broad range of security options at different price points. Alteon Switched Firewall products are designed to seamlessly integrate into the layered security strategy of any network topology, supporting security requirements at perimeter, extranet, data center and campus nodes for a high level of protection of corporate assets and optimized use of network resources.

"By offering new models of our Alteon Switched Firewall system, we enable our customers to implement the first line of network defense with a security solution that provides industry-leading performance, regardless of the size, throughput or number of users the network must support," said Atul Bhatnagar, vice president and general manager, Ethernet Switching, Nortel Networks.

"The new models allow customers that require less traffic throughput to satisfy their needs at a more attractive price point without sacrificing functionality," Bhatnagar said. "Because customers can add firewall appliances as their network requirements increase, this protects their investment and lowers total cost of ownership."

Tailored to the requirements of service providers and very large enterprise customers, Alteon Switched Firewall 5710 provides more than four gigabits of throughput with the ability to support 1,000,000 concurrent sessions and establish 32,000 sessions per second. It has the processing power, memory and throughput to support high-bandwidth operations like video on demand and voice over IP.

For enterprises that require fewer active sessions and do not require gigabit connectivity, Alteon Switched Firewall 5408 offers throughput of 600 megabits per second, with the ability to process 170,000 concurrent sessions and handle flash crowd traffic. It also features built-in firewall load balancing and health checking.

Alteon Switched Firewall 5100 delivers non-accelerated Check Point firewalls. Customers using this product can upgrade to higher levels of performance by adding a Firewall Accelerator to their cluster when network demands increase.

"Nortel Networks and Check Point's joint leadership in high-performance security is enhanced by the latest Alteon Switched Firewall products featuring FireWall-1 NG," said Asheem Chandna, vice president of business development and product management for Check Point Software Technologies. "Developed through close collaboration, the new offerings expand the range of Alteon multi-Gigabit security solutions that provide high performance, scalability, and ease of management to enable network security."

Introduced in November 2001, Alteon Switched Firewall 5610 provides over four gigabits per second throughput and supports 170,000 concurrent accelerated sessions. Designed for large to medium enterprise and service provider customers, it is optimized to support high-bandwidth applications and jitter-sensitive traffic like voice over IP and streaming media. For companies requiring only Fast Ethernet (10/100) interfaces, Alteon Switched Firewall 5308 offers throughput of 600 megabits per second and the ability to process 40,000 concurrent accelerated sessions.

In addition to the new models, new Alteon Switched Firewall features include support for virtual firewalls and virtual local area networks. The ability to implement a more granular security policy can be tailored to the unique requirements of different departments within an enterprise. For service providers, the intelligent switching fabric enables multiple customers to be aggregated onto a single Alteon Switched Firewall unit - with distinct, granular security policies for each customer.

The new Multi Link Trunking (MLT) feature is designed to enable constant network uptime by providing bandwidth aggregation from front-end devices, such as routers or Layer 2 fan-out switches. MLT increases redundancy and allows all ports in a trunk group to act as one interface to the firewall, increasing overall bandwidth.

Nortel Networks is an industry leader and innovator focused on transforming how the world communicates and exchanges information. The Company is supplying its service provider and enterprise customers with communications technology and infrastructure to enable value-added IP data, voice and multimedia services spanning Wireless Networks, Wireline Networks, Enterprise Networks, and Optical Networks. As a global Company, Nortel Networks does business in more than 150 countries. More information about Nortel Networks can be found on the Web at www.nortelnetworks.com.

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*Nortel Networks, the Nortel Networks logo, the Globemark and Alteon are trademarks of Nortel Networks. Check Point, FireWall-1, Secure XL and OPSEC are trademarks of Check Point Technologies.