Making good connections

Review and buyer's guide: remote access servers.

Network World, 3/23/98

No doubt about it, enterprise-class remote access servers keep making it easier to get even your most far-flung and demanding users connected. But while the hardware-based products offer high-end features, they don't necessarily offer top-notch performance.

As the Review shows, some vendors aren't beating on the boxes the way we did in our tests of five leading remote access servers. Only two of the five could support 60 simultaneous file transfers without modification and fine-tuning, and those two didn't have the best performance. That honor went to Bay Networks, Inc.'s Versalar 5000 Access Switch, outfitted with the Versalar 5399 Remote Access Concentrator Module. It clocked in at 35% faster than its nearest competitor, earning it our Blue Ribbon.

Speedy performance doesn't mean much if the server doesn't support all the features you need. Our Issues and Trends story will clue you in on high-end capabilities to look for, including virtual private network support, ironclad security, scalability and fault-tolerance.

That story is complemented by our interactive buyer's guide, which makes it easy for you to find the server that best meets your needs.