IP•Tube RS530 CEP

The IP•Tube RS530 CEP, whose synchronous serial interfaces are configurable as DCE or DTE, provides for the leveraging of existing synchronous serial bulk rate encryptors such as; KIV-7, KIV-7M, KIV-19, OMNI, and KG-84. The IP•Tube RS530 CEP encapsulates synchronous serial data from Data Terminal or Communication Equipment into IP packets. These IP packets are sent to a remote IP•Tube RS530 CEP where the serial data is de-encapsulated and synchronously clocked into the remote Data Equipment. The IP connection provides for the transparent interconnection of Synchronous Serial Data Equipment via LANs, WANs, MANs, Satellite and Wireless Ethernet. Configured Data rates from 2.4 Kilobits per second to 2.048 Megabits per second.

In Layer 1 operating mode every bit is encapsulated into an IP packet. The size and frequency of the IP packets can be set with data bit rates from 2.4 Kilobits to 2.048 Megabits per second. Latency minimization is accomplished with multidimensional adaptive clock configurations. A configured number of incoming packets are buffered in order to compensate for the packet delivery jitter introduced by the network. The size of this buffer needs to accommodate the peak amount of jitter.

In Layer 2 operating mode HDLC Data frames, such as those used by Wide Area Networking protocols PPP and Frame Relay or proprietary Data Links, are transported within IP packets as HDLC over IP. The latency introduced is dependent upon the clocking rate and the HDLC frame size. Minimum latency is obtained by maximizing the clock rate and minimizing the MTU. HDLC Over IP frames are directly sent out the Serial interface since Clock synchronization is not required. WAN security provisioning, such as firewalling, is maintained.

Asynchronous characters from the RS530 interface with 5 to 8 data bits, baud rates from 1.2 to 38.4 kilobits, 1 or 2 stop bits that are with or without parity are efficiently encapsulated into IP packets. The encapsulation supports block mode transfers to minimize the bandwidth required. Additionally the latency is controlled by setting the Tube Bytes per packet.

In order to assure high quality communications over links with intermittent or noisy performance, such as Wireless or Broadband over Power Line, the IP•Tube CEP RS530 employs Engage’s robust Assured Delivery Protocol with the following benefits:

• Packet out of sequence detection and re-sequencing
  
• Duplicate skipping
• Lost packet retransmissions with configured delay.

All IP•Tube CEP models ship with three 10/100BaseT Ethernet LAN ports. The Ethernet interfaces provide for: 

• Management interface on MLAN 
• Dual Data Plane LAN ports can be configured to support:
• Protector Option for Redundant Packet Path connections with 
• Constant or Switch Over Criteria
• Connections over 2 opposite ADSL links 
• Alternator Option for load balanced SDSL interconnects 

The IP•Tube CEP RS530, whose serial interface is configurable as DCE or a DTE, facilitates the transport of bulk data across a combination of IP and WAN infrastructures. The IP•Tube CEP RS530's flexibility supports internetworking across varied LAN/WAN/MAN/Satellite networks. The size and frequency of the IP packets can be set with data bit rates from 76 bits to 2.048 Megabits per second. Latency minimization is accomplished with multidimensional adaptive clock configurations.

The IP•Tube CEP RS530 HDLC over IP provides a transparent bandwidth regulated IP Tunnel for interconnecting remote Networks. With the IP•Tube CEP RS530 WAN security provisioning, such as firewalling, is maintained. WAN Protocols, such as PPP and Frame Relay, that utilize HDLC framing are encapsulated with HDLC Over IP. Broadband Service providers are able to transport Enterprise Wide Area Network connections with inband management of the Committed Information Rates. The IP•Tube CEP RS530 IP Tunnel can also be utilized as a secondary path for fault tolerant mission critical applications.

The IP•Tube CEP RS530 uses the Type of Service byte in the IP packets or 802.1p/q mac levels to prioritize the encapsulated T1 frames.  QoS is used to ensure that the real time serial data from the IP•Tube CEP is ensured high priority.

IP•Tube CEPs isolate management and data plane functionality with the use of two separate processor modules. Management processor access is limited to SSH or SNMPv3 encrypted sessions that employ AES 256 bit keys and sophisticated NIST passwords. These sessions may be established after authentication via TACACS+ or Radius.

The independent Linux based management plane of the IP•Tube CEP ensures Critical Infrastructure Data is isolated from management network access. The Management Module uses internal serial ports to connect to the Data Plane processor.

Administration and User Logs are available with Syslog.

CEP management security features include:

• Administrative policies for adding, removing, disabling and renaming authorized users; limiting user access to assigned commands; and enabling only desired port numbers.
• User authentication directly or in conjunction with TACACS+ or RADIUS servers including RSA SecureID support for two factor trusted compliance.
• An SSH command interface encrypting management traffic with powerful 256 bit symmetric keys and NIST based passwords.

The IP•Tube CEP Management Plane LAN Ethernet interface is and independent management port when the Data Plane Ethernet interface is connected to a VPN. Each Ethernet LAN interface features independent IP network configurations.

The protector option utilizes the second LAN interface as a redundant path for the interconnection of the IP encapsulated Serial data. The extension of the RS530 circuit has a fault tolerant link that is configured to always on, or with switch over criteria.