L2F functionality opens new market opportunities in the dial-up and Internet service markets by allowing telecommunication carriers and other service providers to offer dial-up remote access to private networks as an outsourced solution. This alternative to existing remote access solutions broadens the scope of providers gaining entry to the enterprise in a unique, secure manner. The new technology is contained in Cisco IOS(tm) software, the foundation for all Cisco products, which supports the multimedia requirements of both LAN and WAN protocols, optimizing WAN services which control intranetwork access.
"The explosive growth of Internet users has caused providers to look for alternative methods to support the dial-up communities," said Virginia Brooks, a senior analyst at Aberdeen Group. "Private access for remote users over public service backbones will become a significant piece of the emerging communications picture. Cisco, Shiva and Nortel are paving the way for these Virtual Private Dial-Up Networks by supporting L2F technology."
Nortel and Shiva are the first vendors to announce their support for L2F technology.
"L2F will be a key component of a new product capability on our Rapport Dialup Switch product line and will enable service providers to offer new revenue generating internet services," said Micky Tsui, vice president, Internet solutions of Nortel.
"We plan to implement L2F in the Shiva family of remote access servers, furthering our commitment to delivering standards-based products and technologies for remote access," said Guy Daniello, vice president of worldwide R&D for Shiva. "By working with Cisco and Nortel to enhance L2F, we will be providing our customers with the technology that goes one step further in providing secure virtual private networking over the Internet."
Benefits to the service providers and end users are immediate where L2F is leveraged. Remote clients gain secure, easy access to corporate networks through existing public infrastructures, while retaining control of security and manageability. L2F allows service providers to offer a new class of virtual dial-up solutions allowing the transportation of multiple protocols and use of unregistered addresses over shared or public networks.
Multiple corporate networks can use a single local telephone number terminated on a service provider's dial-up switch or access server. The access server establishes identity, sets up a private tunnel to the user's corporate gateway router and tunnels clients to that gateway. The corporate gateway is responsible for authentication of the remote user, thereby ensuring enterprise control of access security and addressing.
Nortel's Rapport Dialup Switch portfolio makes access and use of the Internet easier, reliable, secure and more productive for users, while creating new revenue opportunities for Internet service providers. The Rapport Dialup Switch portfolio is ideal for carriers and service providers offering Internet and intranet access and telecommuting. Nortel's Enterprise Networks Division provides custom-designed enterprise networks for businesses of all sizes around the world. Nortel had 1995 revenues of (U.S.) $10.7 billion and has approximately 63,000 employees worldwide.
Founded in 1985, Shiva Corporation (NASDAQ: SHVA) is a global, full-line provider of remote access solutions, systems and services. Its products enable users and user sites at enterprises of all sizes to connect with corporate information resources, on-line services and the Internet. Shiva offers a full range of award-winning, analog and digital remote access and communications servers. With partnerships that include Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Netscape, Motorola and Nortel, Shiva hardware and software are marketed by many of the world's leading computer and communications equipment manufacturers and telecommunications companies. The company is based in Bedford, Mass., with offices worldwide and a corporate R&D and manufacturing center in Edinburgh, UK.