TREND

Remote connectivity with SSL VPN

This technology is expected to grow at a healthy 60 percent in 2005 as companies set up global offices, says Abhinav Singh

As SSL VPN is best suited for remote connectivity, we expect healthy adoption in 2005 Muthu Kumar M Managing Director Aventail India

iGATE Global Solutions is happy with its experience of going live with Aventail’s SSL VPN (Secure Socket Layer-Virtual Private Network) solution. Although it uses both IPSec and SSL VPN, the latter technology has integrated well with third-party security solutions that iGATE uses, and it does not need a dedicated authentication server.

Explains Chella Namasivayam M, the company’s Vice-president for Global IT & Purchases, “There is no need to install a client for running an SSL VPN, whereas IPSec VPN is heavily dependent on client software. Also, with SSL VPN there is no need to procure concurrent licences for each and every employee—a clear return-on-investment factor.” In an SSL VPN deployment, only a specific number of employees, as many as there are licences, will be able to log on at a particular time. Then there is the ease of managing SSL VPNs, and the associated overheads that are lower than those of IPSec VPN.

Or take the case of FMCG player Marico, whose employees require secure access to information on the move. “With the Aventail Smart SSL VPN, Marico has created a wide range of secure accessibility options,” says Vinit Thakur, Head of Information Technology at the company. The Aventail EX-1500 has been deployed for providing remote access to e-mail and SAP. Marico has plans to provide access to more applications in the near future.

Growth to be steady

The cost of providing secure access for mobile employees needs to be kept low Java Girdhar Country Manager India & SAARC Juniper Networks

According to Frost & Sullivan, the SSL VPN market in CY2004 was worth $1.2 million. Both the IPSec VPN and SSL VPN markets are expected to grow, but the growth rate of the latter in 2005 will be greater than that of the former. IPSec VPN market revenues totalled $13.2 million in CY2004, and will grow at 35 percent in 2005. SSL VPN will grow at double that rate—60 percent—although on a smaller base.

Cisco is the leader in the field of IPSec VPNs with over 3,000 customers in the country, including State Bank of India, JM Morgan Stanley, ING Vysya Life Insurance, Vijaya Bank, HCL Technologies, IBM Global Services, and Wipro, among others. Says Shantanu Dasgupta, Industry Analyst, Technology Practice, Frost & Sullivan, “Although SSL VPN is still in its infancy, new evolved technologies are expected to be introduced by vendors this year.”

According to Java Girdhar, country manager, India & SAARC, Juniper Networks, “The cost of providing secure access to corporate VPNs for mobile employees and customers needs to be kept low. This is where SSL VPN can help. Additionally, it is very common in India to have shared computers in cyber cafes and even in offices, where users may want to access VPNs in a secure manner. SSL VPNs are going to dominate that sphere.”

Ease of management

SSL VPNs do not require complex, intrusive clients. This makes it easier to install and manage them, leading to cost savings. SSL is pre-installed in every major Web browser. In comparison to this, IPSec VPN requires a device-specific client installation at the remote end-user side of the secure tunnel. Updating these clients can become an ongoing burden. SSL VPNs can also extend remote access to a wider range of locations and network resources from Internet-enabled devices because SSL-VPN rides on top of standard TCP/User Datagram Protocol transports. This lets SSL VPN tunnels transverse Network Address Translation (NAT) devices and proxy-based firewalls. IPSec VPNs, on the other hand, cannot support complex networks because they struggle with firewall transversal, IP address conflicts, and NAT. In addition, an SSL VPN provides access from corporate managed devices as well as from unmanaged devices such as home PCs.

More secure than IPSec?

Although IPSec VPNs are well-suited for site-to-site connectivity, they do not work quite as well in an extended enterprise network. Nowadays, Indian enterprises are extending remote access of corporate resources to their employees (Intranet), mobile workforce and business partners to create an extended enterprise environment. Such companies are expected to adopt SSL VPN technology. In SSL VPN, access can be limited to specific applications via SSL, whereas IPSec gives ‘all or nothing’ access to network resources. SSL-VPN is focussed on application-layer traffic.

That said, IPSec VPN is suitable for long-lived connections where broad and persistent network-layer connections are required. SSL-VPN, on the other hand, is best suited to applications where the system needs to connect individuals to applications and resources. By providing strong security for remote access through a secure, proxied connection to those resources that a user is authorised to access, SSL VPN provides a direct network connection which is safer.

Adoption to go up

It is expected that large organisations such as banks, ISPs, e-businesses, BPOs and e-traders will drive this technology in 2005. These organisations have a large mobile workforce that needs remote connectivity. SSL VPN may meet their requirements. States Muthu Kumar M, Managing Director, Aventail India, “With broadband connectivity picking up, especially in urban areas, organisations want to give the same level of security to their mobile workforce that they give to their office-based workforce. As SSL VPN is best suited for remote connectivity, and provides the same level of secure access to a mobile employee as one would have at an onsite location, we expect healthy adoption in 2005.”

Rakesh Singh, the General Manager, Asia Operations, NetScaler says, “The SSL VPN market is expected to show increased levels of maturity in 2005 as awareness levels among organisations with regard to the use of this technology are increasing in India.”

When compared to other countries such as Japan, Indian adoption is lagging behind. Nevertheless, India may still catch up in SSL VPN deployment, especially since the general market is becoming aware of the benefits of this important aspect of network security.

abhinav@expresscomputeronline.com