NetDevices Takes On Cisco ISR Appliances

Founded in July 2003, NetDevices this month launched its first product, the SG-8 Unified Services Gateway, an all-in-one appliance for branch and remote offices that combines networking, VoIP and security capabilities such as VPN, stateful firewall and intrusion detection and prevention.

The SG-8, available now, competes with more complex multibox solutions that tie together a variety of devices such as routers, switches and a bevy of security appliances to accomplish the same tasks, said Seenu Banda, president and CEO of the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, who previously managed Cisco's midrange router lines.

SG-8 also competes directly with Cisco's recently launched Integrated Services Router (ISR) family of branch-office devices. While the ISR devices do reduce the number of appliances at the network edge, they contrast with NetDevices' own SG-8 in that packets still are processed separately by each service, Banda said.

"We process all of the services together. If you're not doing that, you're not a true service gateway," he said, adding that NetDevices' OnePass packet processing capability helps decrease processor load and latency. The SG-8's modular, always-on operating system, dubbed ModuLive, keeps problems or failures on one service from impacting the performance of other services on the same box, he said.

Joe Whittington, manager of government and education accounts at GHA Technologies, said NetDevices could have an opening with customers looking for alternatives to Cisco. "We sell quite a bit of Cisco, but there is a market need for other solutions," he said. NetDevices plans to fulfill 100 percent of sales through the channel, Banda said. "Our product, technology and business model are all set up for channels," he said. The SG-8 is aimed at medium-to-large enterprises with at least three branch offices. Pricing starts at $14,990, including firewall, VPN, IDS/IPS, VoIP and routing services with an eight-port Ethernet switch model and four-port T1 or E1 interface.