Timothy
Parker Consulting Incorporated
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ISIS ImageStream Enterprise Router ImageStream Internet Solutions (ISIS)
offers a configurable, adaptable router for existing enterprise (and companies
moving to that world) organizations. The
ImageStream is a basic chassis that can accept several types of
telecommunications and networking cards. At
the moment, ISIS offers most of their cards in both integrated CSU/DSU
configurations and those without the CSU/DSU. The basic line-up consists of WAN
cards with a choice of RS232, EIA-530 or V.35 interfaces, as well as cables for
connecting to external devices. In addition, there are Ethernet (10/100Mbps) and
Token Ring cards, as well as telecommunications links through T1/E, T3/E3, ISDN
(BRI and PRI), and V.90 cards. A console RS232 port is also provided. The ImageStream is a big unit, black,
deep, and heavy. It is designed for
rack mounting (it is a 5U rack size), but requires a deep rack. The front of the
unit has several small fans to draw air into the chassis, while the back of the
unit has tons of expansion slots (18 PCI slots in the unit we tested) for cards
to be added. The construction is
impressive. This is as solid and bullet-proof a router as we have seen, with
many features that are remarkable considering its low price (compared to other
enterprise-class routers). For
example, there are four 200W power supplies for redundancy, all configured for
load sharing. You can have dual processors and 128MB RAM on the Linux-based
control board. Configuring the unit is a matter of
using the console port or the network connection, and setting up a telnet
session. The character-based menu
system lets you configure many aspects of the unit and its cards.
The entire system is Linux based. Setup and configuration takes a while,
especially if there are a number of expansion cards installed in the unit. The
supplied documentation does a good job of guiding you through each of the steps
required for expansion cards, and while a lot of the configuration requires
manual modification to ASCII files inside the Linux O/S, the guide is clear and
explicit. If you know the basic
information (IP addresses, protocols, phone numbers, and so on), you can
completely configure a basic ImageStream in an hour or two. We used the supplied ImageStream in
place of our existing Cisco 7000 router on a test network. Both units had
similar setups, connecting two LANs segments into a WAN and adding T1 telephone
line support. Once installed and
configured, we let the ImageStream take over the routine tasks of managing our
network and Internet access for a two week period. In that time, we had zero
problems with the unit. One item on
our wishlist would have been a backup capability for configuration information
built into the ImageStream. However,
we did perform backups of the system across the network, but restores would be
problematic. A built-in tape drive
or other backup device would be a nice option for some administrator. As hinted at earlier, the expansion
capabilities of the ImageStream are impressive: up to 144 T1 or E1 lines, up to
6 full T3s or 8 full E3s (fractional T3/E3 lines are supported), and enough
expansion slots for a host of WAN and modem cards. Our ImageStream had only
three expansion slots populated, but in a side-by-side comparison to one of our
Cisco 7000 routers with a similar configuration, the ImageStream blew away the
much-more expensive Cisco router in terms of performance, ease of use, and
flexibility. There’s all kinds of capabilities
built into the ImageStream for gateway support, flexible protocols, and tons of
other stuff. There’s more than we
can get into in a short First Look, so if you are in the market for this type of
device, visit the ImageStream web page for more information. There are a few
things we would have preferred to see with the ImageStream.
First, the supplied documentation is focused around configuration, and
steps your through the basic process. A
little more explanation and detail would have been nice.
Second, there is not as complete a diagnostic suite as there are with
competing units, such as the Cisco 7000. While diagnostics are often not needed
by administrators, they are handy in case of problems, naturally, and a few more
flexible diagnostic utilities would have been nice. Since both these complaints are minor,
they don’t change our opinion of the ImageStream.
It’s a comparatively inexpensive, solid, talented enterprise router
with remarkably easy setup and maintenance routines. Compared to other enterprise routers on the market, this one
has all the right components. We
were very impressed with the ImageStream, and highly recommend it to anyone in
the market for this class of router. ImageStream Summary: Solid, fast, load-balancing enterprise-class router at a fraction of the price of the competitors. A winner. |
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tparker@tpci.com with
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