NetDevices Branches Out And Expands Its Networking Portfolio

The SG-4 Services Gateway features a modular four-slot chassis and supports the same services as NetDevices’ larger SG-8 lineup, including a 2-Gbps stateful firewall, IPSec VPN, intrusion detection and prevention, a SIP application-layer VoIP gateway, high-performance routing and Layer 2 switching.

“Our mission is to simplify the branch office,” said Eric Andrews, senior director of product management at NetDevices, Sunnyvale, Calif. The new smaller, lower-priced version of NetDevices’ Services Gateway enables the vendor’s channel partners to tackle branch offices that previously were out of reach, said Jeff Freeland, president of Astreya Partners, a San Jose, Calif.-based solution provider.

“For offices with 20 to 30-plus people, the SG-8 works well, but for offices with four, five or six people, the SG-4 certainly opens the door,” Freeland said.

One of NetDevices’ most attractive features is its Lifeline management framework, which includes independent, dedicated backplane and processors, ensuring that remote management capabilities are operational and accessible even if the box experiences failures, Freeland said.

“It eliminates the need to roll out an engineer any time the device hangs,” he said.

In the nine months since signing on with the vendor, Astreya has one customer that currently deploys NetDevices gear, though its sales prospects currently include several Fortune 500 clients that are “very interested,” Freeland said.

NetDevices is a startup in a market that also has attracted veteran networking vendors. It faces stiff competition in the all-in-one branch office space from Cisco Systems’ lineup of Integrated Services Routers and Juniper Networks’ recently launched Secure Services Gateway.

The SG-4 is available now for $7,990. The eight-slot SG-8 is priced at $14,990.