Workgroup Products BayStack Instant Internet 100 and Instant Internet 400 Overview Features and Benefits

The BayStack* Instant Internet* products from Nortel Networks are a plug-and-play solution designed to quickly and easily connect businesses to the Internet and provide Virtual Private Network support. The easy-to-use software interface provides a unique, automated way for businesses to set up, manage, and control Internet access. The quick, non-disruptive installation can be performed in minutes.

VPN Connectivity
Both models now feature support for Virtual Private Network (VPN) communications, delivering secure site-to-site connectivity. VPNs enable companies to reduce expenses by using the public Internet as the infrastructure for their private communications.

Cost-Effective, Scalable Connectivity Solutions
Instant Internet delivers an ideal connectivity choice for businesses of all sizes. For small and medium size businesses, Instant Internet provides cost-effective Internet connectivity. For large businesses with a Contivity* Extranet Switch installed at the central site, VPN connectivity is easily established by adding an Instant Internet device at the branch office.

• Instant Internet 400 provides several choices for establishing high-speed connectivity, and also includes a Web cache for optimized bandwidth utilization.
  
  
• Instant Internet 100 is a smaller, more affordable unit designed specifically for small businesses with less demanding bandwidth requirements.

Both units offer the award-winning features of the Instant Internet product line, including plug-and-play installation, firewall security, and simple, intuitive management of access privileges. And Instant Internet now supports IPSec tunneling for creating secure, cost-effective VPNs.

Installs in Minutes
Instant Internet offers the easiest way to connect your LAN to the Internet. Simply plug in three cables - power, network cable, and Internet access line - and you're done. The rest of the setup takes place across the PC LAN in seconds from any existing computer. There's no need to take down the network and nothing to reconfigure.

Instant Internet enables users on IP-only LANs to begin accessing the Internet immediately, without changing workstation settings or changing the network's router configurations. Installation is nondisruptive and literally takes just a few minutes. Existing subnetted intranets do not need to be changed or disrupted - no matter what the IP address scheme and whether or not it is involved in an existing WAN. IP clients can be automatically configured from the DHCP server within the Instant Internet unit.

• For environments that run IPX exclusively, users can access the Internet from anywhere on the network without adding IP to their workstations. And there is no need to reconfigure, reboot, or stop existing applications during the installation.
  
  
• For networks migrating from IPX to IP, Instant Internet provides a smooth transition by simultaneously supporting both IP and IPX users in LANs that are converting from one protocol to the other.

The connection from the Instant Internet unit to the Internet service provider (ISP) is handled automatically. ISP selection is facilitated by a pull-down list of preconfigured providers, and additional selections are easily added. User ID, password, and dial-up access numbers are quickly entered, and even more challenging T1 connections require just five or six simple entries.

Virtual Private Networking
Virtual Private Networks create secure, cost-effective connections between branch offices and the central site, encrypting data and sending it through secure tunnels across public networks, such as the Internet. Specifically, a VPN typically involves the establishment and management of one or more "tunnels" between two devices (see Figure 1). By using economical Internet connectivity to transmit data, companies will realize significant cost savings over current leased-line and private network models. Instant Internet provides IPSec tunneling support using both single DES (56-bit) and triple DES (168-bit) encryption, as well as SHA or MD5 authentication.

Web Caching
Available only on the Instant Internet 400, Web caching increases the apparent bandwidth and connection speed to the Internet. Because users frequently access the same Web sites repeatedly, caching can supply many accessed Web pages directly from the local cache memory. 64 MB of cache RAM is available to store frequently accessed Web pages, creating instant loading of these sites without the need to download pages every time they are requested.

Both businesses and schools can greatly benefit from the increased performance delivered by the Web caching capability of Instant Internet 400. For example, an entire classroom of PCs can access a single Web page within seconds after its first access by a teacher or student. Businesses that frequently access key sites such as the corporate intranet can load these sites into cache memory, conserving precious bandwidth and reducing access time throughout the day.

The Instant Internet transparent proxy protocol converter permits the use of a proxy cache without the burdensome task of reconfiguring all workstation browsers. The proxy cache can be external, or the internal cache supplied by Instant Internet 400 can be used as well.

When individual PCs are connected directly to the new high-speed modems, a new, special PPPoE version of the familiar "Dial-up Networking" module must be used at each workstation in order to connect. However, the inclusion of PPPoE on the Instant Internet platform enables the device to handle all of the log-on and PPPoE configuration tasks, eliminating the need to perform special configuration on the client PCs. The Instant Internet configuration for PPPoE consists of simply entering the user name and password - everything else is automatic.

Firewall Security
Instant Internet provides the LAN with rock-solid security. It ensures high-end firewall protection through any of its five proxies (SOCKS, HTTP, IPX-WINSOCK, DNS, and NAT) used singly or in combination. The network stays private and secure - in fact, it is invisible to the Internet.

Management
Ideal for first-time network managers, Instant Internet features intuitive, easy-to-use, yet powerful management capabilities, including:

• Real-time monitoring with cityscape graph, and trace (connection and performance statistics).
  
  
• User Internet Access control (by IP address, port number, time, day, site, and newsgroup filtering).
  
  
• Event logging and metering annotated by USER ID, machine ID, destination and service.
  
  
• SNMP monitoring - Gets only.
  
  
• Host access management with options to block/permit access to hosts.
  
  
• Cookie management.
  
  
• Network firmware updates.

Wide Range of Connectivity Options
A full range of high-speed Internet connectivity options is available to accommodate differing bandwidth needs, as well as the requirements of various ISPs. Customers simply plug in the RJ connector to the built-in analog, ISDN, T1, or Ethernet interfaces.

• Instant Internet 100 supports analog (V.90) and ISDN connections (with or without built-in NT1) over 10BASE-T Ethernet.
  
  
• Instant Internet 400 additionally supports 56K DDS, V.35, X.21, and fractional or even full T1, as well as both 10/100 autosensing Ethernet or 4/16 Token Ring.

User Access Controls Ensure Employee Productivity
Instant Internet makes it easy for businesses and schools to control user Internet access by automatically importing user and group information from existing NT or NetWare directories. This capability eliminates the need to manually reenter the data.

By dragging colors through a grid of the 7-day, 24-hour week, the times and days of Internet access can be controlled for everyone on the network, or just for certain groups or individuals. This tool eliminates unnecessary access costs accumulated by tickers and broadcast applications that users leave running all night.

Using simple wildcard and/or partial names, Instant Internet's management tools can block or allow specific Web sites, domains, or newsgroup sub-trees for all users, or restrict particular groups or users chosen from the directory. Through the power of inheritance, Instant Internet tracks users as they come and go in the LAN directory and assigns new users predetermined group access controls.

Year 2000 Compliant
The BayStack Instant Internet products have been tested and certified Year 2000 compliant by Nortel Networks according to the test cases identified in the Nortel Networks Year 2000 Test Strategy/Plan.