Customers // Case Studies - Blue Ridge Networks
Blue Ridge Networks™ deployed the first commercial VPN solution in 1994. The company’s technical heritage extends back to the 1980s when company founders were developing cryptographic systems for Government supercomputers. Today, Blue Ridge Networks builds highly secure products that enable organizations to connect remote offices and mobile workers.
The company’s BorderGuard® product line leverages built-it RSA® public key technology, the ability to work with an organization’s installed public-key infrastructure, two factor authentication, bit-resolution packet filtering, and Tunnel-Lock® to provide a level of security that has no reported vulnerabilities in its 10 years of operation.
BorderGuard products earned some of the world’s most stringent security certifications, including FIPS 140-2 and DoD SPOCK validation, Common Criteria certification, and HIPAA compliance.
The Challenge:
Blue Ridge Networks wanted to expand its existing product line and increase performance – to greater than 400 Mbps of sustained throughput – while retaining compatibility with their installed base. The company required an advanced hardware development partner that could provide a comprehensive solution, including architectural design, board-level design, bootloader and manufacturing test software development, prototyping, design validation and testing, enclosure design, and emissions/safety certifications. Most important, Blue Ridge Networks wanted to work with a trusted partner that could function as a virtual extension of their internal product development team.
“ADI established itself to be a trusted, strategic provider of turnkey design services,” said Tony Russo, CEO and President of Blue Ridge Networks. “They consistently deliver against our highly demanding schedule and cost constraints. The ADI team proved its integrity and commitment to our success by consistently going the extra mile.”
The Solution:
ADI worked with Blue Ridge Networks on a custom design for the BorderGuard 5000 Secure Communications Platform. Based on the AMCC 440GX PowerPC microprocessor with Hifn 7855 cryptographic coprocessor, ADI’s design fully met Blue Ridge Networks’ stringent requirements for performance, time to market and BOM cost .
After the BorderGuard 5000 was in production, ADI was asked to help develop a reduced footprint BorderGuard for some very targeted market needs. ADI provided a truly turnkey program – handling all aspects of board design, enclosure design, prototype parts procurement and manufacturing, design validation, emissions and safety certification, and transition to volume manufacturing.
Since the original design was completed, Blue Ridge Networks leveraged it for different markets – including a desktop-sized device and a fanless Pentium M based blade that meets harsh environmental specifications for military applications.