AR800 modular switching routers enhance connectivity with advanced ASIC technology for wire-speed WAN connectivity and aggregation .

December 19, 2000- Allied Telesyn International (www.alliedtelesyn.com), a worldwide leader in simplifying networking for businesses of all sizes, today announced its newest and most powerful and flexible router product family, the AR800 series of modular switching routers. Designed to deliver unparalleled flexibility for a standalone router, AR800 series routers harness the power of Ethernet for wide area networks by combining traditional WAN connectivity options with multiple Ethernet ports for extended LAN/WAN inter-connectivity. Designed and manufactured by Allied Telesyn using state-of-the-art switching ASICs for high levels of integration and system reliability, the first three members of the AR800 family - the AT-AR824, and the AT-AR816f in each of its two fiber configurations; SC and compact MT-RJ - provide powerful, flexible solutions for optimizing wide area connectivity in a host of different applications.
Exploiting Allied Telesyn's proven software expertise and the scalability of Ethernet, the high density AR800 enhances - and aggregates - wide- and local-area networking. A fully configured AR824 switching router can aggregate up to as many as 26 T1 connections into a redundant Gigabit Ethernet link for less than $35,000.

"Allied Telesyn is taking the market by surprise with a class of products normally expected from only the established brand leaders or niche players," commented Lauri Vickers, Senior Analyst for LAN Networking Services with Cahners In-Stat Group. "Their new Fast Ethernet switch router has a compellingly low price point in a segment which grew at twice the rate of the overall LAN packet switch market in 3Q 00. The company is proving yet again that it chooses the right market segments and sets the standard for price/performance networking."

A richly featured, high-throughput solution to LAN/WAN inter-connectivity, AR800 series routers break price/performance barriers while providing incredible flexibility in connectivity options. With outstanding throughput, measured at 85Mbps - with Allied Telesyn's Stateful Inspection firewall running - these newest Allied Telesyn routers extend the legacy of price/performance/configuration superiority in the company's AR router lines. Allied Telesyn's top-of-the-line access router family, the AR800 joins the company's other router families that span the range from SOHO to enterprise, including the AR300 series for point-to-point, branch office, education and medical applications; and the AR700 series for branch office and small to medium-sized business applications. As with the AR100, AR300 and AR700 router families, an emphasis on standards-based features that guarantee full interoperability with existing networks, while keeping an eye toward future growth, is apparent in the AR800 family. Its modular design makes an AR800 series router the perfect solution for a variety of WAN applications, including corporate T1 access concentration, business ISP T1 access concentration, high-density ISDN access services, and VPN (virtual private network) concentration. And, as with all Allied Telesyn routers, the AR800 switching routers are shipped complete with AlliedWare™, operating system software with advanced features for security, management and performance, right in the box.

"AR800 series routers represent the industry's most powerful and flexible standalone solution to date," said Melvyn Wray, Allied Telesyn's Vice-President of Corporate Marketing. "These new routers are perfect for larger branch offices, large campuses, ISPs and other network-centric business applications that seek extended WAN/LAN inter-connectivity without having to invest heavily in chassis-based solutions."

In addition to supporting all of today's most widely used WAN interfaces via the slide-in Network Service Module (NSM) and Port Interface Cards (PIC), AR800 series routers provide multiple fixed Ethernet ports for extended LAN/WAN connectivity requirements: the AR824 includes 24-port auto-negotiating 10/100Base-TX ports; the AR816f, 16 100Base-FX ports. These feature-rich multi-function devices are well-equipped with Allied Telesyn's standard Layer 2 and 3 features as well as advanced routing protocols, including IPX, AppleTalk, IGMP/DVMRP, PIM-DM/SM, RSVP and more. Even with all those features, there's room for more. The AR800 series routers can be customized with options like Allied Telesyn's Stateful Inspection firewall software; Gigabit Media Uplink modules; hardware accelerator cards for encryption/compression; and more. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can configure the AR800 Series as an access concentrator for private multi-tenant business applications, and any AR800 can be ordered with a factory installed -48V DC power supply to meet the special requirements of telcos and ISPs' co-located facilities. Recognizing that these switching routers are ideal for mission critical applications, the units are also available with an external redundant power supply (RPS) that fully protects against loss of the internal power supply.