SUN_pak

[Andrew Loewenstern]

I was looking at the description of this patent (thanks to JYA for providing  
easy access to this article...), and I can't believe Sun got a patent for  
this.  Tunneling encrypted IP sessions over regular IP by using a gateway  
router is hardly a novel idea and is immediately obvious to anyone who is  
knowledgable in networking and crypto.  Aren't there already products out  
there (hardware and software) that implement this sort of thing?  I seem to  
remember Cisco producing a router and MorningStar producing software that did  
this.  I also seem to remember the concept being discussed on this very list  
several years back (can't check the archives from work though...)  I believe  
there is even a name for it:  VPN (Virtual Private Networks)  John Gilmore  
is currently putting together a project to do much the same thing in  
software...

Did I miss something innovative in this patent, or is this another example  
of clueless patent examiners granting patents for things that don't deserve  
patent protection?


andrew