Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), one of Japan's leading Internet-access and comprehensive network solutions providers, has announced the successful completion of a project for Impress Holdings, Inc. IIJ was selected by Impress to develop redundancy for their layer two corporate network using a combination of wide area Ethernet and virtual wide area Ethernet. The network uses IIJ's proprietary SEIL router with its built-in L2TPv3 and STP functions, and has been in use since October 2005.
Impress's corporate network was based on conventional wide area Ethernet, but relied on a single basic layer two network. This configuration raised serious concerns about the network's ability to maintain availability. In addition, Impress utilized a variety of non-IP protocol in their corporate network, such as AppleTalk, which eliminated the option of creating a backup network using inexpensive layer 3 network services and made the cost of redundancy a major issue. To circumvent these problems, IIJ constructed an Internet-based virtual Ethernet network that provides the needed redundancy for Impress. The network was very easy to install because IIJ was able to create find a solution that uses Impress's existing wide-area Ethernet network and Internet connections while only replacing an existing router with one of IIJ's new SEIL routers.
IIJ also had to address the issue of Impress's network availability and the burden of operating a full mesh multi-location network using a layer 3 VPN. Since SEIL routers can also function as layer 3 VPN equipment, one unit can serve multiple functions and boost operational efficiency. These features increased the availability of Impress's corporate network and greatly reduced their operating costs.
SEIL routers are provided via rental agreement, which holds down the cost to one-tenth of what other methods cost for providing redundancy on wide-area Ethernet networks.
The SEIL router was developed in 2003 as an enterprise router with standard firewall, VPN, QoS and other common features, as well as L2TPv3, policy routing, IPv6 and other high-end functionality that enables users to create advanced, flexible networks. SEIL routers are also compatible with the world's first network operating system, SMF, which provides a broad spectrum of features.
IIJ will continue to provide high-quality, flexible networks that meet the varied needs of today's corporate customers.
Click here for more information
