SOMERSET, N.J. - Netilla is expanding capabilities of its Secure Sockets Layer remote-access gear to support Web-based and fat-client applications, making the gear better-suited to a broad spectrum of corporate remote-access needs.

With Release 4 of its Netilla Service Platform (NSP) software, the company is adding to existing support for Microsoft Terminal Services, Unix, Linux and mainframe applications.

Netilla's NSP devices act as a proxy between remote users connecting via the Internet and corporate servers hosting applications they want to access. Remote users log on to the machines via Web browsers and establish an SSL session with the NSP. The NSP then acts as a go-between with the host server and the remote machine.

With the software upgrade, customers can access Web applications from any PC with a browser that supports SSL. Netilla's previous support did not include Web-based applications and required a thin client on the remote machine.

With the addition of an HTTP proxy in Release 4, users can connect to Web applications. And a new Universal Windows Adapter client tunnels traffic from client software such as Lotus Notes that reside on the remote PCs to the NSP box via SSL streams, says Reggie Best, Netilla's CEO.

The Web capability will let Deborah Heart and Lung hospital in Browns Mills, N.J., grant remote user Web access to Microsoft Outlook, among other applications, says Gerard Williams, director of IS for the hospital. Before the release, the hospital used Netilla gear but was limited to using it for a Windows-Terminal-Server-supported application called Meditech that handles medical and billing records.

The advantage of browser-based remote access is that remote computers need little or no support from Deborah's limited IT staff. "We couldn't get to all of them," Williams says. Before buying an earlier version of the Netilla platform, the hospital relied on phone calls and faxes to complete transactions.

Some of the new Netilla features are similar to those that vendors such as Aventail and Neoteris offer, says Michael Suby, an analyst with Stratecast Partners.

Netilla also is introducing a new hardware platform called NSP G-Class, created for large companies that is capable of supporting up to 1,000 thin-client sessions and 2,500 Web access or fat-client sessions. The box costs $65,000. This week Netilla will announce $6 million in additional funding from its investors, bringing the total to $17 million.