Check Point Adds VPN Capabilities

The new capabilities, slated to be available in September, make Check Point's VPN solutions more flexible, thereby opening more opportunities for VARs, said Leslie Stern, product marketing manager at Check Point, based here.

The Universal VPN includes support for clientless VPNs, which allows users to securely access corporate data without VPN client software, she said. Instead, users can connect via a standard Web browser using SSL. The capability, added to VPN-1 Pro, would meet the needs of companies that want to provide access to users that they can't set up with client software, such as partners or suppliers, Stern said. Check Point also will provide clientless VPNs by supporting the Microsoft Windows native VPN client, L2TP, she said.

Another new technology Check Point is adding will support VPN routing, which allows the VPN gateway to handle traffic in the hub-and-spoke topology. That allows for easy transition from frame relay networks, Stern said. The capability also supports complex VPN deployments, which streamlines management of global VPNs, she said.

On the client side, Check Point is adding predefined security checks that administrators can use to ensure that a remote user's system is securely configured before it's allowed to make a VPN connection. VARs also can help companies design their own security checks, Stern said.

"The ability to check a remote system's security profile before that system is allowed access is a great feature that most IT departments will want to have," said Scott Strochak, president and CEO of Xtelesis, a network integration firm in Burlingame, Calif.