Cisco Looks to Shed SSL VPN Underdog Status
6/6/2005 -- Cisco Systems Inc. last week announced a new WebVPN Service Module for its Catalyst 6500 Series switches and 7600 Series routers.
Cisco says the new WebVPN Services Module supports remote SSL VPN capabilities from any Web browser, along with pre-connection security posture assessment by means of Cisco Secure Desktop (CSD). It can support up to 8,000 concurrent SSL VPN remote access users per module—with up to 32,000 users per chassis. It also features virtualization capabilities that allow a physical module to act as multiple, logical SSL VPN gateways—each with its own policy and management support. It will be available starting in July for $35,000.
Analysts see the new WebVPN module as another example of Cisco scurrying to catch up with its more nimble competitors. “[I]t provides Cisco with a competitive response to the weakness that its VPN 3000-based solution didn’t scale to meet enterprise capacities,” notes Joel Conover, a principal analyst for enterprise infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis Inc.
What’s more, says Conover, it helps shore up Cisco’s competitive position vis-ŕ-vis arch-rival Juniper Networks. “[Cisco] was late to enter the SSL VPN market and gave up important early market share to Juniper, Nortel, F5 and others,” he writes. “With the WebVPN module, Cisco can now deliver its fully functional solution and sell it for revenue”—although Cisco’s VPN 3000 WebVPN feature will be available as a free upgrade for existing customers.
Conover sees the new WebVPN Services Module as a (mostly) unalloyed good for Cisco. “[I]t enables Cisco to aggressively pursue opportunities in the SSL VPN market without the competitive deficiency of an underperforming platform,” he says. “Furthermore, with Cisco’s WebVPN 4.7 release ... Cisco has finally delivered all of the critical components necessary to be competitively effective in the SSL VPN market.”
Conover says Cisco’s new WebVPN module should do much to enhance Cisco’s standing of “performance underdog” in the SSL VPN market. At the same time, he adds, Cisco isn’t quite delivering all the goods yet. “While the new WebVPN module helps Cisco greatly in improving its SSL VPN positioning, it suffers in the short-term from the same feature skew that the ASA-5500 suffers. As a result, Cisco’s latest feature improvements, such as clientless Citrix support and Secure Desktop are unavailable,” he writes. “This will be corrected in the next release, but that release is not due out until Q3 2005. Until then, customers will have to wait to get the most from their Cisco SSL VPN investment.”  -Stephen Swoyer
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