* Whale releases Express Edition SSL VPN for SMBs
Whale Communications is announcing a new model of its Intelligent Application Gateway designed for small businesses or small sites in larger business networks.
The Express Edition SSL VPN and application-security device offer a slimmed-down version of the features that come with Whale’s Enterprise Edition, but with the intent of meeting most needs of small and midsize businesses at a lower price.
The Express, for example, cannot create policies for custom applications. A toolkit for doing so can be purchased with the Enterprise edition.
Also, Express clears out standard caches when an SSL VPN session ends in order to wipe traces of the session from the remote computer. Express can be customized to look for non-standard caches that custom applications might set up.
There’s a long list of other differences, but the bottom line is that the Express is designed to be easier to set up, do a solid job and cost less than the more sophisticated Enterprise Edition. The cost of an Express Edition for 250 concurrent users is $34,000, while an Enterprise Edition for the same number of users costs $43,000.
That’s a significant savings, but it also allows small businesses to buy into the technology at a price they might be able to afford. The Express Edition for 50 concurrent users costs $15,200.
While the Express Edition doesn’t have as many knobs on it as the higher-end version, it also doesn’t require as much know-how on the part of customers’ IT staff. This is also likely to be attractive to smaller businesses in which staffing and expertise may be limited.
Potential buyers who ruled out Whale before as too expensive or sophisticated should give this new bundle a look.
