VPN Models
In a distributed business model, branch offices and POS locations extend a company's reach into key markets, but that communication link must be available 24x7 and be able to support the businesses applications. SonicWALL VPN solutions help companies establish centralized control over branch offices, point-of-sale (POS) locations, or remote kiosks providing the robust security and performance needed for business continuance. SonicWALL firewall/VPN solutions enable secure, high-speed communications between multiple locations.
SonicWALL Internet security appliances offer the performance, reliability, and availability that businesses need to communicate. Traditional site-to-site connections require companies to lease expensive, dedicated data lines that are difficult to deploy and manage. With the advent of affordable broadband and standards-based VPN, organizations can deploy secure remote access via ubiquitous Internet connections. With today's VPN technology and broadband connections, companies of any size use the Internet to securely communicate with their multiple locations.
Hardware vs. Software Based VPN
There are two main types of security and remote access options available today: software and hardware. Software based firewall/VPN gateways running a computer or server have inherent problems.
A general-purpose computer is not the most reliable device for the processing demands of security. Firewall/VPN applications are data intensive, and placing these processing demands on a computer or processor can slow down the network.
A general-purpose computer's operating system isn't designed with bulletproof security in mind. Configuring computer-based firewall and VPN gateways require that you harden the operating system. This means ensuring the operating system always has the latest security patches to fix new security flaws.
The complexity of current software configurations has been problematic, particularly ease of use and management.
The hardware based firewall/VPN solutions, typically embodied in security appliances, protects the entire network and offloads all the firewall and VPN processing from the computers. Because security appliances protect the network at the Internet gateway, they provide a platform for seamless local or remote management of all security and remote access services. A security appliance is a solid-state platform with a powerful onboard processor to handle the demands of firewall and VPN processing.