US Patent 6901517 Hardware based security groups, firewall load sharing, and firewall redundancy

A secure telecommunications system includes an external network and an internal network on which traffic travels. The system includes a switch connected to the network. The system includes a first inspection engine and a second inspection engine which are connected to the switch, which receive traffic from the switch, process the traffic to determine whether it is desired traffic or undesired traffic, which prevent undesired traffic from passing through it and which sends desired traffic back to the switch. The system includes a first destination connected to the switch which receives desired traffic from the switch that has been processed by the first inspection engine. The system includes a second destination connected to the switch which receives desired traffic from the switch that has been processed by the second inspection engine. A method for sending traffic over a secure telecommunications system.