This morning I had the chance to chat with Brendan Ziolo, Director of Marketing at Sipera Systems. Brendan and I worked together at TimeStep, an IPSec VPN company about ten years ago. We've been out of touch for all those years, so beyond hearing about Sipera's great new release, it was a chance to reconnect.

Here are two links to a really good PowerPoint overview. I stored it in both PPT and PPS format. The PPS format does the animation pieces easily. If you use the PPT version, do the slide show view to get the proper effect.

Purely by coincidence of scheduling our chat Sipera announced their new IPCS 410 and 510 enterprise VoIP security devices today. These are based on the award-winning Sipera IPCS 310.

These platforms support new VoIP VPN capabilities for encrypted signaling (TLS), encrypted media (SRTP and ERTP) and strong authentication (Radius). Both the IPCS 410 and 510 also offer VoIP Firewall/Border Control functionality to enable enterprises to solve firewall/NAT issues and apply granular domain policies to every VoIP, IM and multimedia session based on who is talking to, or messaging, whom, when, where and using which device.

The press release announcing the new IPCS 410 and IPCS 510 is below. Sipera brings some fascinating ideas to VoIP security and I was very impressed with the architecture and implementation. This looks like a solution that will nicely complement security in the enterprise and service provider network,


NOTE: This is the first time I've used my Marantz PMD660 digital recorder to record on the PSTN for a production podcast. The audio quality in general is far better than Skype or Gizmo recording, or any of the other VoIP recording I've done. But I'm still learning how to use it well. As a result, the intro and exit picked up some room echo because I didn't use a top-notch mic. I'll take care of that next time. Also, I think I bumped something in the process and picked up some 60 Hz buzz in the conversation. I've edited it down the best I can, but it's there. I'll work on some practice sessions to get that eliminated.

Richardson, TX, January 30, 2006 -- Sipera Systems, the leader in pure security for VoIP, mobile and multimedia communications, today debuted the Sipera IPCS 410 and the IPCS 510 for the enterprise. These platforms support new VoIP VPN capabilities for encrypted signaling (TLS), encrypted media (SRTP and ERTP) and strong two-factor authentication. Both the IPCS 410 and 510 also offer VoIP Firewall/Border Control functionality to enable enterprises to solve firewall/NAT issues and apply granular signaling, media and security policies to every VoIP, IM and multimedia session based on network, user, device and time of day.

Sipera Unified Communications Policies characterize each call flow and create actions to allow, deny, or apply routing and security functionality to each session. With this capability, enterprises can deploy soft phones, VoIP remote users, WiFi/dual-mode phones, SIP Trunks and Click-to-Talk applications without compromising established security policies. The inherent flexibility and power of this framework also lowers TCO by minimizing expensive network changes; provides redundancy and cost-savings with flexible call routing; and transfers control back to enterprise IT managers for all real-time unified communications.

"VoIP network security is a complex challenge, given the growing enterprise VoIP user base, increasing adoption of instant messaging and multimedia applications in the workplace, and the common lack of a comprehensive approach to securing these applications," said Krishna Kurapati, Sipera founder and CTO. "The comprehensive, real-time Sipera IPCS 410 and 510 platform not only identifies and protects against potential threats, but also provides functionality that enables enterprises to securely deploy remote VoIP users, SIP Trunks, WiFi/Dual mode phones and Click-to-Talk applications. This functionality is critical for maintaining enterprise security controls while realizing the many benefits of unified communications."

In addition to the functionality referenced above, the IPCS 410 and 510 offer comprehensive VoIP Intrusion Prevention and VoIP Anti-spam capabilities, based on the award-winning Sipera IPCS 310 technology. All Sipera IPCS products intelligently analyze every VoIP call, IM session, and other unified communications sessions, in order to proactively monitor and detect anomalies. This ensures network and user protection from attacks, misuse and service abuse including DoS/DDoS floods, fuzzing, stealth and VoIP spam, in real-time.

The Sipera IPCS 410 supports 10,000 users and up to 1 Gbps of throughput, while the Sipera IPCS 510 supports 100,000 users and up to 2 Gbps of throughput.

About Sipera Systems
Sipera Systems provides enterprises and operators with comprehensive VoIP security solutions that protect, control and manage real-time unified communications. The Sipera IPCS™ products combine VPN, Firewall/Border Control, Intrusion Prevention, Anti-Spam and Compliance functionality for VoIP systems in a single device. This securely enables soft clients, WiFi/mobile phones, VoIP remote users, SIP Trunks, and Click-to-Talk applications, along with hosted VoIP services and IMS or UMA-based networks. Comprised of top vulnerability research experts, the Sipera VIPER™ Lab concentrates its efforts towards identifying VoIP vulnerabilities, while Sipera LAVA™ tools verify networks' readiness to resist attacks. Founded in 2003, Sipera is headquartered in Richardson, TX. Visit http://www.sipera.com.

Technorati Tags: Sipera, Sipera IPCS, Sipera IPCS 310, Sipera IPCS 410, Sipera IPCS 510, VoIP security