This Counter64 totals the Phase-1 control tunnels, currently and previously active, that were locally initiated by this device, per its description - meaning this router was the one that started the negotiation rather than responding to an incoming request. It tells an admin how much of this device's VPN role is as an initiator versus a responder, which matters for understanding traffic patterns and troubleshooting connection-initiation issues specifically. A spoke router where this counter dominates over cisgIpsSgGlobalRespTunnels confirms it's behaving as expected - the party that reaches out to establish tunnels rather than waiting for them.