AEP Networks is broadening its products to include network access control gear that it intends to integrate with its SSL VPN gateways.

The company has announced that it will sell an appliance from Lockdown Networks that enforces access controls on devices trying to connect to corporate networks. Called NACPoint, the device will be available later this year.

At some point after that, the company says it will integrate NACPoint with its VPN gear called NSP that acts as a gateway between corporate resources and computers trying to connect to it over the Internet.

By doing this the company is expanding on its software that evaluates computers to see whether they support the prescribed corporate security posture, and only when they pass are they allowed access.

This is not an uncommon trend with VPN vendors. For example, Juniper Networks has made its SSL VPN gear a key part of its NAC architecture, and Cisco has done so with its IPSec VPN equipment.

It's only natural that VPN gear be assigned double duty because they are already acting as a check point for traffic in and out of networks. Beyond enforcing what information a remote user can access, the devices are well situated to determine whether the devices are suitable to connect in the first place.

Whether this limited role is enough remains to be seen. It is one thing to plug into a larger, open standards NAC architecture and quite another to offer a functioning version of NAC. AEP seems to be saying it wants to pursue the latter.

Tim Greene is senior editor at Network World.