Router plays network middleman

Bay Networks (BAY) announced new remote access routers today, along with a series of new wide area network modules and enhancements intended to address the needs of branch offices as they connect with corporate networks and intranets.

The expandable Advanced Remote Node branch office router combines the functions usually found in several devices into one router for remote access to a network. The chassis supports one Ethernet or Token Ring local area network adapter slots and two WAN slots for a variety of links. The remote node router is due in November for prices starting at $1,945.

The Nautica Corporate LAN Access Module 840 is the latest addition to Bay's router family for the small office-home office market. It includes IP and IPX routing capabilities, PPP support, and frame relay. The new router is priced at $995 and is expected to ship by the end of the year.

Bay also announced software enhancements to its Optivity network management suite. A new version of BayRS routing services software now includes more bandwidth management features.

And the company also debuted ControlCenter 1.0, a new application to be included in the upcoming release of Optivity 7.1, due by the end of the year. This application can take an overall network view of a collection of routers and manage their configurations from a central location.

The company also announced a new remote access server for the System 5000 line, a compression module for the Access Stack Node and System 5000 MSX module, and quad synchronous interface modules for the ASN and System 5000, among others.