Dulles,
VA. January 21, 2003 – Encore Networks,
a leading developer of integrated network
security and access products, today announced
its entry into the Utilities market with
the EtherFRAD™, optimized to support
the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition
protocol (SCADA). All Utility companies
— including the providers of gas, electric,
and water —- as well as pipelines and
railroads, rely on hundreds of thousands
of SCADA devices.
For decades, utility companies have
monitored and gathered information such
as water pressure, power consumption,
and gas usage over slow, expensive leased
analog lines via modem. And they used
these same lines to control and monitor
switches, valves, and other settings
at remote locations from central operations
centers.
Already shipping and installed in networks
using SCADA devices, Encore's entire
EtherFRAD™ product line now enables utility
companies to migrate these important
measurement and control functions to
a faster, more reliable digital transmission
format, like public or private Frame
Relay. In addition, the EtherFRAD™ sets
the stage for moving these operations
to the even more efficient and cost-saving
solutions of IP and IP Virtual Private
Networks (VPNs).
"Using Frame Relay as the transport
technology for SCADA networks is the
first phase in implementing a private
infrastructure over public carrier networks," said
Abir Hnidi, Encore Networks' Senior Director
of Technology and Applications Development. "The
EtherFRAD™ enables utility companies
that currently have slow legacy networks
to move to a Frame Relay-based VPN architecture,
and additionally paves the way for a
smooth and gradual migration towards
an IP VPN solution."
The SCADA migration to digital transmission
gets an extra push from changes occurring
within telephone companies. Internally,
phone networks are entirely digital,
and carriers find analog access lines
more expensive to maintain and harder
to repair than digital services. Accordingly,
utilities using SCADA are experiencing
not only rising costs for analog lines,
but also slower restorations after outages.
According to William Flanagan, Principal
of Flanagan Consulting, "Cost savings
drive most changes in networks. This
is particularly true of the move from
expensive, cumbersome analog leased lines
to the more cost-effective and easier
to maintain digital services. The EtherFRAD™
gives double value by enabling utility
companies to leave leased lines behind
while providing many troubleshooting
functions that optimize the maintenance
of the digital services on Frame Relay
networks." |
About Encore
Networks
Encore Networks www.encorenetworks.com is
a leading developer of integrated, broadband
IP+Legacy™ VPN and security platforms, signaling
protocol conversion, and converged voice
and data solutions for both carriers and
enterprises. Encore provides advanced security
solutions that include encryption, stateful
inspection IP VPNs, support of legacy data
protocols and built-in dial backup and fail-over
capabilities. Encore’s innovative signaling
and data solutions include signaling conversion
for voice migration from circuit to packet,
a broad line of IADs, VPN router CPE and
host products to transform legacy data networks
to broadband IP infrastructure.
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