* WatchGuard comes out with its Firebox SSL Core
WatchGuard has come out with an SSL VPN appliance for midsize businesses that speaks to the inevitability that VPN hardware vendors have to embrace SSL.
The WatchGuard Firebox SSL Core device is based on the company’s IPSec appliance hardware and Citrix’s Secure Access software
With SSL vendors improving the access they can grant to remote users via readily downloadable software agents, IPSec remote access vendors have had to revise their products and their pitches. Networking vendors such as Cisco and Nortel integrated both SSL and IPSec remote access technology into their product lines years ago. That makes sense since they try to appeal to a broader clientele.
But others have done the same, the most recent being SonicWall, which has announced plans to offer an SSL VPN appliance this fall. It’s not a product you can buy today, but it indicates the way things are going.
Aventail, which does not make IPSec gear, has an in-your-face campaign aimed at buying back IPSec remote access gear from customers of other vendors. The idea is to hammer home Aventail’s mantra that SSL VPNs can do just as much as IPSec remote access VPNs.
Vendors like WatchGuard and SonicWall, which still rely on their firewall/VPN gear for significant parts of their revenue, have to continue to push them. Now they say the IPSec equipment is best suited for site-to-site VPN tunnels. Both vendors have also added other security technology as well in an effort to broaden their customer base among small and midsize businesses
The new WatchGuard appliance is available now and costs $2,790 for the device and support for five simultaneous users. The box with support for 205 users costs $22,590. User licenses are available in blocks of five, 10, 20 and 50.
