Today's office is now anywhere that a user can get an Internet connection, a PC on a business partner's network, a handheld at a WiFi hotspot, an airport kiosk, or a computer on a home WiFi network. But secure access is not the only driving business factor remote access must be easy to use and administer as well.
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Aventail Smart Access: Secure and Easy for Users and ITA ventail White Paper
Executive summary
In the competitive climate of today's connected world, you must deliver secure access to more applications and business resources for more users in more places than ever before. The office is no longer just a location, the user is no longer just an employee, and the device is no longer just a desktop PC. The office is now everywhere that a user can get an Internet connection-a PC on a business partner's network, a handheld at a Wi-Fi hotspot, an airport kiosk, or a computer on a home Wi-Fi network.
Secure access from untrusted and risky locations beyond the control of IT is a major concern. But secure access is not enough-remote access must be easy to use and administer as well. The right access solution will provide simple, universal application access, with complete control, security, and ease of use that increases productivity for all users and IT staff.
Unfortunately, IT organizations have faced significant obstacles to meeting these apparently conflicting requirements with existing virtual private network (VPN) access technologies, such as IPSec remote access solutions. IPSec VPN solutions were designed to secure communication between sites over an untrusted network. However, changing needs and styles of work have pushed the limits of IPSec solutions, making them increasingly complex and costly to implement, maintain, and use. Because of IPSec's lack of granular access control for applications, its high overhead for client software support, and its problems with network traversal and interoperability, IPSec technology fails to meet today's diverse access needs.
The advent of SSL VPNs has been a significant step toward delivering simpler, more flexible secure application access. Promising Web application support, secure proxied communication by means of encrypted SSL connections, simpler clientless deployments, and more granular policy control, SSL VPNs are superior to IPSec VPNs for remote access. Despite the benefits of SSL technology, though, many SSL VPN solutions still fall short of providing universal application access. In addition, these solutions become more complex and difficult to manage as the number of applications, access methods and locations, and authorization requirements increase. Finally, existing VPN solutions all share an important shortcoming: They typically base authentication on the identity of the user, without accounting for the characteristics of the user's access point and location. ®To mitigate these shortcomings of IPSec and other SSL VPNs, we developed the Aventail Smart SSL VPN. Our Smart SSL VPN technology is designed to deliver the first VPN solution for universal application access, with complete control and security as well as unparalleled ease of use. A single solution designed to replace IPSec for remote access, the Aventail Smart SSL VPN can also replace underperforming SSL VPNs, providing an easy-to-use and manage solution for everywhere secure access to all network resources and applications.® TAventail's advanced access technology starts with Aventail Smart Access. Incorporating Smart Access into Aventail's award-winning, clientless SSL VPN technology makes secure access more transparent for end users; fewer steps for the user provide faster access with fewer help-desk calls. Moreover, Smart Access gives IT organizations a straightforward way
Aventail Smart Access: Secure and Easy for Users and IT Page 2A ventail White Paper
to deliver and manage access, reducing administrative total cost of ownership (TCO) while increasing access and security. Smart Access dynamically determines the right access method for the user and the end point-from Web access to full client/server access-and delivers the right access method to the user automatically. No user intervention is required. There's no need to deal with pop-ups or manual downloads, and the user can access Web applications, file shares, and client/server applications-even Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-all from a secure browser. For users of managed Microsoft Windows devices who require native access to all authorized resources, Smart Access offers a Web-deployable, lightweight client.
Smart Access integrates with our other smart technologies to offer the unique capabilities of ® Tthe Aventail Smart SSL VPN. Our revolutionary, patent-pe... [download for more]
