Trend

More features for the SMB Rupee

Vendors are embedding security and dynamic routing features in entry-level routers to target SMBs. By Abhinav Singh

Integrated routers are now making headway into the Indian market especially amongst SMBs. Service providers are using the functionalities of these devices to cater to the requirements of customers. Integrated routers are being used by service providers due to the explosion of the MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) backbone. MPLS can cater to multiple protocols and facilitate multiple routing capabilities with multiple interfaces being catered to. Earlier plain vanilla routers without integrated functionalities were used primarily as an interface between the LAN and the WAN traffic but did not support security and multiple protocol interfaces.

Over time demand for more applications to be routed through the WAN infrastructure and security to be added on to routers has grown. Considering the convergence of voice, data and video services and the rapid growth in network traffic, there is a growing requirement for routers that are intelligent and dynamic with built-in resilience and security for seamless integration. Additionally many early routers exhibited security weaknesses, ranging from Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerabilities to unauthorized password retrieval. Over time, routing technology stabilized and equipment vendors addressed the security holes present in earlier routers by integrating security functionalities onto the router itself. This has created a significant market opportunity for integrated routers. As per a market estimates the total market size for routers in India will be close to $400 million for the CY 2007 (This includes the purchases by large enterprises, government agencies, SMBs and service providers). Of this 20 to 25 percent will be accounted for by integrated routers.

Branch routing

A lot of interest is being shown for implementing integrated routers in India by many large enterprises but at the branch level. Sajan Paul, director-Core Sales Engineering, Enterprise Networks-Asia, Nortel, says, “Integrated routers have managed to carve a niche amongst Indian SMBs as security features such as Quality of Service (QoS), Firewall and Intrusion Detection are now available on a single device. This provides tremendous value to these companies, as they no longer need to invest separately on a firewall or VPN in addition to the router.

Integrated routers also help enterprises in overcoming the lack of IT staff at branches with easy to deploy hardware that requires little maintenance and is remotely manageable to boot.”

Prasad Babu, director- Systems Engineering and Sales Operations, Juniper Networks India Pvt Limited, says, “Integrated routers due to their multiple functionalities reduce unnecessary interfaces to interconnect various devices. In case of a centralized IT architecture a company would like to go in for standalone routing functionalities but in case it aims to have departmental IT set-ups it will go ahead with integrated routing capabilities.”

Keeping broadband growth in mind it is easier for the SMBs to look at remote branch connectivity with a lower price tag. They need a device, which is an all-in-one device providing VPN, broadband routing, security, switching and wireless. Remote management and configuration are desirable qualities. All these factors are propelling SMBs to adopt integrated routers. Jayesh Kotak, vice president- Marketing, D-Link India Ltd, says, “Integrated routers can be easily configured as a single device when compared to three to four devices.” Kotak adds that routing will be just 15 percent of the total functionalities of these integrated routers. They can also handle WAN interfaces to provide seamless connectivity, firewall as a form of security, VPN for remote access to the network, QoS for controlled usage of bandwidth and Traffic Filters to control misuse.

Everybody’s got one

Seeing huge potential in the market many vendors are have offerings in the integrated router space. Cisco is promoting its integrated routers the 1800 and 2800 Series. The 1800 Series delivers secure Internet and Intranet access and all the models within the series include built-in security and a Security Device Manager (SDM) for simplified management. All these routers also have up to 10/100 Mbps built-in routed ports and there is support for wireless LAN standards 802.11a/b/g. Similarly Nortel is promoting its solution SR 4134 and SR 3120 as part of its offerings for the integrated routers market. Nortel is also in the process of announcing a router, which is capable of delivering five features in a single device—routing, switching, security, voice and video and Power over Ethernet. Juniper Networks on the other hand has embedded Avaya Media Gateway functionality in the J-series J4350 and J6350 branch office routers and is offering enterprises a single box with telephony, routing and security features. This solution provides integrated voice and data security, and multi-level business continuity options.

Made for SMBs

It has been observed that most major routing vendors such as D-Link, Cisco, Juniper and Nortel are transforming their legacy routing solutions with multi-services capabilities. Although it may not be fair to compare integrated routers with standalone routers as many argue that if a number of functions are integrated onto a single router it affects the performance. That said although large enterprises are going in for integrated routers at the branch level they prefer to go for standalone routers for their centralized data centres, which caters to thousands of users. Paul explains, “Standalone routers may not be having multiple functionalities but they have a large number of wide area ports and large number of physical interfaces and route handling capabilities which fit the requirements of large enterprises having thousands of users.”

Prem Nithin, senior technical consultant, Cisco, India and SAARC, says, “Although there are a whole lot of functionalities embedded in integrated routers, enterprises generally do not go ahead with all the functionalities together and are selective about their choice of features. We generally customize the router as per the requirement of the customer and the final throughput required so that the customer can get maximum utilization from the integrated features.”

Additionally hosted voice services is another key area for service providers and an integrated router acts as an analogue gateway for telephone and Fax services which is essentially a value-added service for service providers. Paul explains, “These days a large number of enterprises are trying to move their networking backbone to a service provider’s managed infrastructure in order to reduce complexity in managing the backbone. In most cases service providers provide the integrated routers functionalities to the end customers for a one time cost or as part of the monthly rentals.” Many however feel that a lot will depend on the handling capabilities and processing speeds of integrated routing products. A market will exist for both integrated as well as standalone routers. As IT infrastructure outsourcing grows, service providers will look at integrated routers and similar equipment for these ease deployment, can be easily managed, reduce cost of freight and inventory and bring down the cost of skilled manpower.