Intel Express Router 9300, Express Router 9100, Express Router 9200, Express Router 9201, Express Router 9400 Specifications

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KEY FEATURESJ

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Secure LAN to LAN

connectivity over the

Internet featuring

144 bit encryption

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Multiple protocol

support including

Frame Relay, X.25,

EuroISDN and PPP

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Easy conﬁguration

and management

with Intel Device

View for Windows*

Intel Express Routers

The VPN routers for secure networking over the Internet.

Intel Express Routers can now secure your private business communications for safe transmission over the Internet, while continuing to offer a simple and cost effective solution for all your traditional WAN routing needs. With two or more Express Routers, you can create a secure Virtual Private Network over the Internet. Powerful encryption and tunneling capabilities safeguard your data. With the comparatively low cost of Internet access, you can save as much as 80% of the cost of dedicated long distance WAN connections.

Intel Express Routers provide a rich set of features while simplifying the traditional complexity of router installation and management. An Intel Express Router can be up and running in minutes, using simple menu-based options with default settings that will satisfy most network situations. Management is also easy, with powerful Windows* OS-based SNMP management tools that provide a hierarchal view of each WAN and LAN connection for monitoring and troubleshooting.

You get sophisticated control of WAN link activity. Features such as advanced ﬁltering, data compression and Network Address Translation (NAT) are built in to each router, ensuring efficient data transmission, a secure data link across the public domain, and a safeguard that restricts public access to your private LAN.

Unlike other router solutions in which software and other important components are costly add-ons, Intel Express Routers are complete, cost-effective solutions. Each Intel Express Router includes all the hardware and software needed for full installation. The only item packaged separately is the appropriate WAN interface cable for the environment.

Intel Express Routers are designed for worldwide network environments worldwide, with support for a range of WAN protocols and interfaces. They integrate with other Intel networking products for a complete corporate internetworking solution.

NEW FEATURES

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Secure Virtual Private Network support

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Even easier-to-use console interface

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Robust new features added to Intel Device View for Windows*

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Enhanced SNMP support

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Support for RMON groups 1, 2, 3 and 9

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Frame Relay encryption (per link

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Improved diagnostic tools

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Intel Express Routers

The features described below are supported by all Intel Express Routers. The router models are differentiated by the WAN support they provide.

Secure business communication over the Internet – Virtual Private Networks and more

The Internet offers unprecedented savings as a means of long distance corporate communication. In fact, Internet access can easily cost as little as 20% of the cost of a traditional WAN connection. But how do you keep your vital business data secure as it crosses the public domain?

Intel Express Routers provide a simple and inexpensive solution, enabling you to create a highly secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) over the Internet and public Frame Relay and X.25 networks. There’s no need to alter your existing network architecture. Security is provided by using an Intel router for each point at which you connect to the Internet. Powerful encryption keeps your data private. (See the side bar on tunneling for more information.)

Other security features include:

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Data encryption. Encryption is available when used over Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) or Frame Relay links. Encryption is performed using the Blowﬁsh algorithm, with a 144 bit encryption key. For best effectiveness, encryption is performed across the entire data stream rather than on individual packets only. All Express Router models come in two versions – with or without encryption.

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Network Address Translation (NAT). Network Address Translation enhances security by hiding internal IP addresses when data is sent over the Internet or WAN. NAT also provides considerable savings in time and money by eliminating the need to redesign your business’s internal TCP/IP addressing scheme when connecting to the Internet or remote sites with conﬂicting IP addressing schemes.

Using NAT, an Intel Express Router automatically assigns a unique Internet IP address to each internal LAN address, enabling transparent communication with those outside your corporate network. Alternatively, the router can maintain a pool of unique IP addresses, assigning a temporary address to a workstation whenever it connects over the Internet or WAN. This method requires fewer official Internet IP addresses.

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Authentication – PAP, CHAP. To ensure that Intel Express Routers communicate only with other authorized devices, the routers can be conﬁgured to use the Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) or the Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) when communicating over PPP links. The routers will demand authentication whenever the link is established.

Over ISDN (EuroISDN only) and analog modems, PPP Call Back can be used for authentication. If a user dials in for access to the LAN, the router cuts the connection, then calls back to ensure that it’s an authorized link. PPP Call Back is compatible with the Microsoft Call Back standard.

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Filtering. IP and IPX ﬁltering eliminates unauthorized communication over the WAN or LAN link. By tightly deﬁning ﬁlters to pass communication only to and from authorized sources, links remain secure.

Comprehensive cost control of WAN links

Traditionally, WAN link traffic is by far the most expensive cost component of WAN connections. Intel Express Routers help control WAN link costs while also maximizing the available bandwidth for data communication. They do this in a variety of ways:

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Data compression. Data compression allows the transmission of more information over the same bandwidth on a WAN connection. Software-based LZS data compression is supported in the Intel Express 9100, 9200, 9201 and 9300 Routers for Frame Relay and PPP. LZS is an industry accepted speciﬁcation providing typical compression rates of approximately 4:1 and interoperability with other routers. The hardware-based data compression supported in the Intel Express Router 9400 is also based on the LZS algorithm. This distinctive feature allows compression while running at full bandwidth. X.25 and LAPB compression is supported in an implementation that requires Express Routers at both ends of the connection.

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Filtering. Filtering eliminates unnecessary communication over the WAN link. With tightly deﬁned ﬁlters, only essential traffic passes through, thus lowering communication costs. The Intel Express Routers support ﬁlters for IP, IPX and bridging.

Intel Express Router

(with tunneling enabled)

ISP

POP

Public

Internet

Secure Tunnel: IP, IPX or bridged LAN traffic encrypted, compressed by PPP and encapsulated in IP

Local private WAN link to ISP (PPP, Frame Relay or X.25)

Site A

Site C

Site B

ISP POP

Intel Express

Router

(with tunneling

enabled)

Intel Express Router

(with tunneling enabled)

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IPX/SPX spooﬁng. The Novell IPX protocol sends IPX Watchdog packets between servers and clients on a regular basis to ensure that IPX sessions remain valid. Similarly, SPX sends keep-alive packets between clients to ensure that SPX sessions are still active. The packets continually activate the WAN link, which signiﬁcantly increases the cost of operation. Intel Express Routers prevent these unnecessary dial-up connections by answering the packets on behalf of remote clients until the WAN link is established for data communication.

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Triggered RIP. Standard RIP updates are transmitted between routers at regular intervals and whenever a topology change occurs. With Triggered RIP, the routers store these updates until the next WAN link is established, and thereafter send only those updates that report a topology change. By eliminating unnecessary information exchange between routers, Triggered RIP reduces the cost of the WAN link and maximizes the available bandwidth for data communication.

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IP and IPX static routes. Even with Triggered RIP updates sent via IP and IPX, keeping track of topology changes can consume valuable bandwidth on the WAN link and increase costs. To prevent routing updates from being sent over the WAN link at all, users can establish static routes.

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Controlled bridging. Intel Express Routers offer user-deﬁned control of the bridging functions. For example, the routers can be conﬁgured to forward data only to known destinations, helping to ensure that only essential information is forwarded.

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EuroISDN cost control. Timer proﬁles and link accounting are especially useful for controlling WAN link costs on ISDNbased (EuroISDN only) networks. Timer proﬁles (up to 16) can be used to restrict outgoing and incoming access to the WAN link. For example, access can be restricted to times when operating tariffs are lowest. Link accounting allows usage monitoring of the ISDN link, including the number of calls and cumulative uptime. An activity alarm can be set to close the ISDN links or send an alert when usage reaches a predeﬁned threshold.

To control and consolidate the billing of dial-in connections over analog or ISDN modems, the Call Back feature can be used. In this case, the router cuts the inbound connection, then immediately calls back the remote site so the billing originates from the central site.

Tunneling – Secure Use of the Internet Via a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

With two or more Intel Express Routers, you can use tunneling and encryption to create a VPN that allows safe use of the Internet to send and receive secure business data between LANs. You get the security of a private network at the vastly lowered expense of simple Internet connections. Typically, because of current limitations in the Internet infrastructure, VPNs are most suitable for non real-time or lower bandwidth traffic.

Tunneling with Intel Express Routers is supported by powerful encryption, using the Blowﬁsh algorithm, with a 144 bit encryption key. Compare this with competing solutions providing key lengths of only 40 to 128 bits – this is strong encryption. For even greater security, you can use a different key for each tunnel.

Before any data enters the public domain, each packet is encrypted and placed in a separate envelope for transmission. For best effectiveness, the encryption is performed across the entire data stream rather than on individual packets only. Even the original source and destination address of the data stream are hidden from potential hackers.

With Intel Express Routers, conﬁguring a tunnel is simple. You don’t have to modify applications or add any specialized software to your LAN. Just enter the IP address of the router at the remote site and enter the same encryption key on both ends of the communication. The connection will work with virtually any ISP and travel as easily as open traffic through the Internet.

Because Intel’s solution encapsulates tunneled traffic in standard IP, Intel Express Routers can tunnel any LAN protocol they can route or bridge, including IPX. This allows existing LAN applications to be used unchanged over the Internet tunnel.

LAN to LAN Connectivity Via

Virtual Private Network Over the Internet

10BASE-T

AUI WAN 1 WAN 2 CONSOLE

LAN

WAN 1

WAN 2

MAINT

SYSTEM

Intel Express Routers

Easy setup and management

Intel Device View for Windows* is included with each Intel Express Router for simple and comprehensive SNMPbased management within Windows 95 and Windows NT* environments. This powerful tool offers a simple graphical interface for real-time monitoring, conﬁguring and troubleshooting of the router and all WAN and LAN links.

Features include:

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Quick Setup. Intel Express Routers are easy to install and conﬁgure, even for users who have little or no WAN or router expertise. The conﬁguration of just a few parameters using the simple menu-assisted format will satisfy the needs of most installations. Intelligent cross-checking helps the user avoid “impossible” conﬁgurations, and auto-detection of cables and WAN port type ensures proper connections. For more demanding applications, advanced conﬁguration capabilities are easily accessed and can be implemented with the router online.

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SNMP Monitoring and Conﬁguration. Intel Device View for Windows uses standard and proprietary MIBs to manage Express Routers over the LAN, providing support for most SNMP counters and allowing MIB viewing with other SNMP management tools. The data is clearly organized by port, and you can quickly navigate down protocol layers to access the level of information you need.

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RMON Support. Intel Express Routers support groups 1-3 and group 9 of the RMON standard for monitoring of the local area network and the router. The supported groups include statistics, history, alarm and events.

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Clear Informational Graphs. Built-in graphical analysis tools offer a clear look at real-time traffic statistics. Use built-in or user-deﬁned parameter combinations for both statistical displays and graphs.

Intel Device View for Windows* includes a new explorer view that presents all WAN connections in an easy-to-navigate protocol tree. This, coupled with intelligent diagnostics, can literally save hours troubleshooting a tough link problem by directing you to the level where the problem exists.

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Straightforward Diagnostics. Unlike most log-based diagnostic tools, Device View for Windows sorts errors by link and prioritizes them in order of seriousness. It also provides an ordered list of suggestions for corrective action.

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Management Platform Independence. Intel Device View for Windows can be integrated in Windows NT and Windows 95 management platforms. Its logical, easy-to-use, menu-based layout offers full integration with the Windows user interface.

Intel Express Router 9100

Wide area networking among multiple sites.

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Easy Firmware Upgrades. The included Software Upgrade Wizard is an integrated Windows-based interface that guides you step-by-step through the upgrade process. In addition, Intel Express Routers let you pretest new software while you continue to run the original software. This avoids downtime by allowing full testing of any new conﬁguration before it is released for full-scale operation.

The Intel Express Router 9100 features two WAN ports, and can support one protocol on one port while simultaneously supporting a different protocol on the other. This ensures maximum ﬂexibility in connecting simultaneously to two networks.

WAN links:

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Two HDLC Serial Interfaces supporting Frame Relay, X.25, PPP, LAPB, Leased Line (TI/EI)

10BASE-T

AUI WAN 1 WAN 2 CONSOLE

LAN

WAN 1

WAN 2

MAINT

SYSTEM

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Intel Support Services. Intel provides a broad range of support services including free 90-day phone support and a 1 year limited warranty. Hardware Maintenance Agreements are also available as added protection for your investment in Express Routers.

Intel Express Routers overview

Intel offers ﬁve models of the Intel Express Router, each one supporting all the features previously discussed. The difference among the ﬁrst four models (9100 - 9300) is in the type of WAN connections they support. The Express Router 9400 is a high-performance ISDN Primary Rate Interface (EuroISDN) alternative. It provides hardwarebased data compression for the fastest possible throughput.

Models 9100, 9200, 9201 and 9300 each provide one or more High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) WAN ports. These ports will support as many as 62 links to user-deﬁned sites. This is a unique feature that provides an ideal solution for building wide area networks linking many locations with Frame Relay, X.25 or EuroISDN. Data compression is also supported for each link to improve throughput and reduce costs.

With an X.25 connection, each link can be deﬁned as a Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC) or a Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC). Switched Virtual Circuits are established only when data is awaiting transmission; Permanent Virtual Circuits are always available.

Intel Express 9400Intel Express 9300Intel Express 9201Intel Express 9200Intel Express 9100Feature

LAN Interface

WAN Interfaces

WAN Protocol

All products come in two versions: one with encryption and one without.

†

EuroISDN support only.