Amplify.net released a beefy gateway earlier this year and responds to the needs of U.S. ISPs with a smaller, lighter product that is designed to fit in small business budgets.

by ISP-Planet Staff [October 28, 2002]

Amplify.net is targeting its latest multihomed WAN iSurfJanus gateways at branch offices and small- and medium-sized companies, because even though business is tough, every business, even the smallest, needs Internet security.

"The iSurfJanus integrates all critical gateway functions such as NAT, DHCP, and static routing together with VPN and firewall for privacy and security," said Pauline Lo Alker, Amplify.net president and CEO.

The company's first iSurfJanus product was the iSurfJanus RX, released earlier this year. With 50 MB of full duplex throughput (i.e., 50 Mbps up and 50 Mbps down) and 3 WAN connections in a 1U rackmount, it offered more than most US service providers needed. Whereas in Japan, customers were using 12 Mbps DSL lines, most US customers make do with DSL speeds of 1.5 Mbps or less.

"Service providers and carriers liked our product," said Alker, "but in the United States they did not need the throughput we were offering."

Alker said that the company is selling to service providers who are coming in as a second ISP for companies who are worried about the ISP they've used for years. The second ISP wants a product like iSurfJanus that offers load balancing and failover between the two ISPs, but is not very expensive. Price is a key factor, and service providers are experimenting with a variety of CPE pricing plans.

"We're beginning to see some service providers look to a leasing arrangement, not a one-off capital expense. They're installing the box and charging monthly fees for it the way that cable companies charge consumers for television set-top boxes," said Alker. ISPs may want to consider retaining ownership of CPE, where possible.

The latest products, the iSurfJanus CX and DX, are set top boxes with two WAN connections. The DX offers 30 Mbps of throughput in each direction, and the CX offers 10 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up.

VPN support is an additional option, but the stateful firewall is included on all models. The company will add VRRP compatibility in December, 2002.

Concluded Charles Mather, analyst for Telechoice. "Uninterrupted communication over private and public WAN links has become a necessity even for many small and mid-sized companies—a market segment that continues to represent vast, untapped opportunity. Solutions such as Amplify's iSurfJanus product family are well positioned and competitively priced to address this segment's critical business needs."

Pricing and availability
The CX and RX models are available now, and the DX model will be released in November.

The CX model (10 Mbps up, 4 Mbps down) costs $995. The CX-VPN model (the VPN runs at 10 Mbps up, 3 Mbps down) costs $1,495.

The DX model (30 Mbps full duplex) costs $1,195. The DX-VPN model (the VPN runs 13 Mbps total throughput) costs $1,695.

The RX model (50 Mbps full duplex) costs $3,495. The RX/BP (with bypass on failure option) also costs $3,495.

The RX-VPN model (the VPN runs 32 Mbps total throughput) costs $4,995, and the RX-VPN/BP (with bypass on failure option) also costs $4,995.

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