Aventail Upgrades VPN Kit

SEATTLE -- Aventail Corporation (www.aventail.com) the leading provider of clientless SSL VPN appliances and services, today announced major enhancements to two of Aventail's Access Options: Aventail OnDemand 3.0 and Aventail Connect 5.2. Combined with Aventail's third Access Option -- secure browser-based access to Web applications and file shares - these new releases advance Aventail's unique ability to deliver the security and broad application support of traditional IPSec VPNs and the simplicity of an SSL VPN.

Available immediately through the AventailEX-1500(tm) appliance and managed service offerings, OnDemand 3.0 is a Web-delivered Java agent that delivers anywhere secure VPN access to client/server applications; Connect 5.2 is a Web-deployed Windows SSL VPN agent for full secure access to all network resources from corporate laptops.

Today, IT organizations choosing secure remote access solutions face the apparent trade-off between simplicity of SSL VPNs and security of IPSec VPNs. Emerging SSL VPN technologies deliver secure access to more places at a lower total cost of ownership. Unfortunately, these benefits typically come at the cost of important features already available in IPSec solutions, like strong desktop security and broad application support. For example, most IT security policies require control over "split tunneling" to reduce risks from broadband networks. While most SSL VPN products don't support this critical feature, most IPSec products do. Likewise, some SSL VPN products limit users to accessing only Web applications and simple client/server applications. As a result, users don't get secure anywhere access to the full set of applications that they need to do their jobs, such as enterprise-class client/server applications. If these users do get access, the SSL VPN products they are using typically require IT to make changes to DNS, applications, or desktops. These issues start to erode the original benefits of the SSL VPN by increasing IT headaches, security concerns, and support costs. With OnDemand 3.0 and Connect 5.2, Aventail eliminates the sacrifices and tough trade-offs facing IT organizations that need secure remote access solutions. Using Aventail's three access options, IT organizations get the combined benefits of SSL VPN and IPSec for remote access. This includes no difficult clients to manage, access from anywhere, granular access control, split tunneling control, and NAT and firewall traversal.

"OnDemand 3.0 and Connect 5.2 demonstrate that not all SSL VPNs require IT to compromise security for simplicity," said Chris Hopen, co-founder and CTO at Aventail. "Our new features build on our goal since 1996 to deliver more VPN functionality in a lighter way for users and a simpler way for administrators."

Key New OnDemand 3.0 Features and Benefits
New features to OnDemand 3.0 eliminate the burdens of infrastructure changes for Windows environments-no changes to DNS, applications, or desktops are necessary-while increasing clientless support for the broadest range of applications in the industry. New features include

Key New Connect 5.2 Features and Benefits
Connect 5.2 augments Aventail's longstanding and proven ability to support secure access with strong desktop security, including split tunneling and personal firewall detection, in a new, simpler model for Web deployment. New features include:

"There are a lot of remote access vendors to choose from, but only Aventail has a 7-year record of success focused solely on SSL VPN technology," said David Lesser, president and CTO of Nexum, an Aventail channel partner and managed service provider. "New OnDemand and Connect features are just another example of Aventail's continued commitment to lead the way in SSL VPN innovations. This commitment allows IT to fully leverage Aventail's SSL VPN appliance for anywhere, anytime access, while protecting the security of the network."

Aventail Corp.