Corrent Announces VoIP Security Gateway for Service Providers; Carrier-Class, High-Capacity Gateway Provides IPsec VPN Security for VoIP Calls at High Connections Rates and with No Loss in Voice Quality.

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Corrent Corp., a leading supplier of purpose-built network security appliances, today announced the Corrent(R) SR770, a carrier-class security gateway for VoIP service providers that employs VPN tunnels to protect VoIP calls from all known security vulnerabilities. In a major price/performance breakthrough, the SR770 is the first IPsec-based security gateway with the speed and capacity to service the high call-volume needs of consumer VoIP service providers.

"The number of residential VoIP subscribers is growing rapidly and many industry observers have predicted that 2006 will be the year that VoIP really takes off," said Richard Takahashi, Corrent president and CEO. "Unfortunately, whenever something becomes widely used it also becomes a prime target for attack. Most consumers aren't yet aware of VoIP security issues but they shouldn't have to be. If the industry deploys our new security equipment, the VoIP services market will go a long way toward protecting the interests of its customers and mitigate the type of security problems that have plagued the Internet for so many years."

Since it is based on existing IP network standards, the Corrent SR770 can be deployed as a "bump in the wire" behind the Internet access point of a VoIP service provider's operations center and will operate transparently to other VoIP networking equipment and software. The SR770 benefits from the extensive learning curve and public review process that helped to refine those standards and guarantee their interoperability.

With its tremendous speed, a single SR770 can handle up to 80,000 concurrent calls at an aggregate bandwidth of 8 Gbps, and can be provisioned for as many as 400,000 subscribers. Since latency is both low (less than 120 microseconds) and deterministic, the SR770 is able to add security without affecting voice quality. The SR770 also solves the so-called NAT transversal problem, where the VoIP phone is located behind a residential router or firewall, and will avoid consumer installation headaches.

VoIP Security Issues

Today, nearly all consumer VoIP traffic that travels over public networks is unencrypted and is therefore vulnerable to misuse. Because VoIP data is contained in ordinary data packets, hackers can use data-sniffing and other Free-Ware networking tools to identify, modify, store and play back voice traffic traversing a shared network. Indeed, anyone breaking into a VoIP data stream has access to much more information than someone tapping a traditional telephone line, including the ability to steal service or cause wide-spread disruptions. Like other IP services, VoIP networks are also subject to attack by Trojans, worms and viruses, and just as e-mail can be overwhelmed with SPAM, voice mailboxes can be filled with SPIT (SPAM over Internet Telephony). The Corrent SR770 allows the service provider to secure the entire tunnel, not just the VoIP traffic. This fits with the providers' model that the link to the soft phone or CPE is an extension of their network.

While consumers today are more concerned about long-distance costs savings and voice quality than they are about VoIP security issues, their viewpoint is expected to change quickly once there is a widespread attack on a major VoIP service provider or if the private calls of well-known people are recorded and exposed on the Internet. Most consumers believe that VoIP calls are as private as their legacy phone system. They do not expect the voice calls to be handled as a "party-line" enabling ease dropping via easily downloaded software. The industry has been well aware of VoIP security issues for some time, but concerns about equipment costs and the inherent latency added when encrypting high volumes of small packets have limited deployment to large enterprises and certain government agencies.

Solution to VoIP Security

The SR770 protects VoIP calls by providing a dedicated, encrypted IPsec VPN tunnel for each caller. IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) has been the standard used for many years to protect private data flowing over the Internet and is well established as one of the most secure methods available for data communications.

IPsec is already in use in several popular business VoIP systems, but service providers have been slow to deploy it on the consumer side because of concerns about cost, latency and call capacity. The SR770 is the first secure VoIP gateway with sufficient speed, capacity and low latency to support a residential VoIP network at an affordable cost.

Reliable Platform

The Corrent SR770 is housed in a 19-inch, 8U, rack-mount, NEBS-3/ETSI-compliant platform, meeting the highest-level criteria for deployment in a Telco Central Office and similar unattended and remote deployments. All components have been selected to deliver the highest reliability and to ensure "five nines" availability. All processor blades, security blades, power supplies and cooling modules are redundant and hot-swappable.

The Corrent SR770 VoIP security gateway begins shipping in March 2006.

About Corrent Corp.

An innovative developer of network security appliances, Corrent is today's price/performance leader in both perimeter and internal network security technology. Corrent offers businesses of all sizes the industry's best performing security technology at every market price point. Integrating Corrent's award-winning security processors with software from today's market-leading security vendors, Corrent's full line of purpose-built appliances help secure businesses against increasingly frequent and virulent network attacks. Based in Tempe, Ariz., Corrent is an international company setting higher standards for value and performance. For more information visit: www.corrent.com.

All trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective companies.