Juniper Zeroes In On SMBs, Seeks More Partners

The NetScreen Remote Access 500 series, available now, builds on Juniper's Instant Virtual Extranet (IVE) platform. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based networking vendor plans to use the new product line to recruit solution providers specializing in the SMB space, said Chris Boni, senior product manager.

Pricing for NetScreen Remote Access 500 products, which incorporate technology from Juniper's acquisition of NetScreen earlier this year, starts at $4,000 for 10,000 users.

"We see this as the evolution of our market-leading SSL VPN technology into a more mainstream environment," Boni said. "For a company that traditionally has served the large enterprise, this is a huge step."

NetScreen Remote Access 500 products deliver many of the same functions as Juniper's Secure Access 1000, 3000 and 5000 enterprise lines, such as single sign-on for Web applications and the ability to deploy multiple units in multiple locations, Boni said. But Secure Access products offer various access methods for different user groups, whereas the NetScreen Remote Access 500 line provides secure access to the corporate network only.

Still, VARs said they didn't think that limitation would impede customer demand for the new products. "Most of the time, SMB customers don't need much more than network connectivity, anyway," said Phil McKiverkin, consulting manager at Akibia, Westborough, Mass. "For simple remote access, we just don't see sophisticated access methods being necessary."