Tiara Networks' new routing products offer dual homed 10/100 Ethernet ports and enhanced options for DS3 access. A software upgrade now enables BGP4 routing.

by Wayne Kawamoto [March 25, 2002]

Tiara Networks recently announced release 5.0 of the Tiara Operating System (TiOS) for the company's family of access and aggregation routers. The company also announced the addition of standards-based BGP4 [definition] to its suite of routing protocols, and broadened its product line with the 4102, a dual DS3/dual Ethernet router for LAN to WAN connectivity; and 1200EC and 1200E routers that provide 2 to 4 ports of E1 to Ethernet routing functionality for markets outside of North America.

Tiara's 4102, a router that's designed for access or aggregation applications, has been expanded to feature dual 10/100 Ethernet ports and dual DS3 ports that may be bonded together to create a 90 Mbps virtual connection. When combined with Tiara's new BGP4 routing, customers should be able to use dual-home routes to the Internet.

Additionally, the 4102 is designed to support sub-rate DS3 for leading CSU/DSU [definition] vendors. The 4102 ships with TIOS 5.0 features that include Multilink PPP, Multilink Frame Relay (FRF .15 & FRF .16), VLAN tagging and forwarding, advanced QoS, NAT, ACL [definition], and Layer 1 diagnostics such as Bit Error Rate Test (BERT) [definition] and standard loopback tests.

According to the company, its routers are becoming the product of choice of enterprises that want an alternative for Internet access and site-to-site connectivity. BGP4 should allow users to dual-home connections to multiple POPs or service providers for increased reliability and load balancing.

Tiara intends its 5.0 release to create an end-to-end package for customers who need routers with 2-16 T1 ports, single or dual DS3, and dual 10-100 Ethernet built-in. By bonding circuits together, virtual channels from 3 to 90 Mbps may be created over the existing copper infrastructure to serve businesses and organizations.

The 1200EC (two E1 ports) and 1200E (four E1 ports) are Tiara's multi-megabit access routers for international markets. Featuring programmable expansion from 2 to 4 ports, the 1200 family should enable bandwidth capacity to grow with end-users' demand for additional broadband connectivity. These systems ship with the new 5.0 release of software, which includes Tiara's suite of software applications.

"We're excited about our new edge router products and believe our 4102 and 1200E/1200EC products will bring significant DS3 and international opportunities within reach. Coupled with our new focus that marries high-performance, feature rich software with highly-reliable, cost-effective hardware platforms, Tiara is poised to capture a significant portion of its target markets," said Paul Smith, president and CEO of Tiara Networks.

"Carriers are hungry for revenue at the edge of their networks, and enterprise users are eager for more WAN bandwidth," said Bob Bellman, president, Brook Trail Research, a networking consultancy. "Tiara's strategy to offer scalable IP bandwidth using proven DS3/T1/E1 technology to the enterprise edge is an attractive alternative to disappointing DSL and other broadband technology deployments. Tiara's pricing and distribution strategy for these new products and features offer strategic advantages over incumbent vendors."

Pricing and availability
Tiara's TiOS software and new product platforms are available now and have the following starting prices:

4102 starts at $17,995 for North America
1200EC starts at $4,595 for International markets
1200E starts at $8,045 for International markets

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