A change in policy

ADC Kentrox has teamed up with Packeteer and Internet Dynamics to create the WANTop Box, a policy-based virtual private networking platform that manages WAN services and could change the relationship between carriers and customers.

The WANTop Box sits at the end user location and lets service providers offer managed, policy-based services, giving customers more control of the network, explained Scott Sarnikowski, product line manager of ADC's network access division.

The device incorporates Packeteer's PacketShaper 2000 technology and Internet Dynamics' Conclave security package. PacketShaper 2000 separates traffic by type rather than port, then prioritizes and forwards the traffic based on the policy. Providers and users establish policies for user groups, and the policies set the quality of service for all traffic types. Conclave combines firewall, encryption and VPN technologies with a policy management interface.

Customers "buy a menu of value-added services, and the provider supplies them," Sarnikowski said.

"The WANTop Box is a member of a new breed of access devices that we call virtual service agents," said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corp. The box gives customers a virtual service relationship with a service provider instead of a traditional connection relationship, he said.

ADC is one of the first to develop such a box, but Nolle predicted that this market will grow.

"Eventually all of the traditional access devices will be replaced or turned into virtual service agents," he said.