Secure Access Gateway - Vendor Directory

With SonicWall's announced plan to acquire Aventail (June 13, 2007) industry consolidation continues to reduce the number of independent vendors focusing exclusively on SSL VPNs.

Breakaway views this as an excellent combination and a good deal for both companies. SonicWall picks up a SSL VPN-based, remote access gateway with policy-based, access controls and endpoint security FAR RICHER than SonicWall's own SSL VPN products. Aventail gains channel strength and no longer carries an unbearable cost structure as an independent vendor with a single product line (Aventail lost $10M on $18M of revenue in 2006.)

In 2006, Blue Coat systems acquired Permeo Technologies and Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Whale Communications.

During 2005 the field of secure access gateway vendors changed rapidly driven by both market consolidation and the relatively late entries of traditional perimeter security companies. AEP merged with Netilla Networks and the new AEP Networks then acquired V-One. Citrix first acquired Net6 and then Netscaler. SonicWall announced its initial SSL-based gateway mid-year and then acquired hybrid VPN technology from gatway vendor enkoo. And Cisco finally introduced the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) 5500 Series, a multi-functional security appliance that includes both IPSec and SSL VPN technlogies.

				Gartner Magic Quadrant for SSL VPN
Vendor	Headquarters	First Release	Product Name	3Q06 Vendor Rating	Position Change	3Q05 Vendor Rating
AEP Networks¹	Dublin, Boston	2003	AEP Netilla NSP	Niche Player	None	Niche Player
Array Networks	Campbell, CA	2001	Array SP	Challenger	Up	Niche Player
Aventail Corp.¹¹	Seattle, WA	2003	Aventail EX-Series	Leader	None	Leader
Caymas Systems¹²	Petaluma, CA	2004	Identity-Driven Access Gateways	Visionary	None	Visionary
Check Point	Redwood City, CA	2004	Connectra	Visionary (barely)	None	Visionary
Cisco Systems	Santa Clara, CA	2004 2005	WebVPN for CISCO VPN 3000; ASA-5500 Series	Visionary	None	Visionary
Citrix^{9, 12}	Ft. Lauderdale, FL	2004	Citrix Access Gateway (hybrid gateway)	Leader (barely)	Up a little	Visionary+
F5 Networks	Seattle, WA		FirePass	Leader (barely)	Up a little	Visionary+
Juniper Networks³	Sunnyvale, CA	2002	NetScreen Secure Access	Leader	None	Leader
NeoAccel	San Jose, CA	2005	NeoAccel SSL VPN-Plus	Unrated	n/a	Unrated
Nokia	Finland	2003	Secure Access System	Unrated	Down	Niche Player
Nortel Networks	Ottawa	2004	VPN Gateway 3050	Niche Player	Down	Challenger+
Secure Computing	San Jose, CA	2004	Sidewinder G2 Security	Unrated		Unrated
Stonesoft¹³	Atlanta, GA	2007 (appliance) 2002 (Portwise Software)	StoneGate SSL VPN	Unrated		Unrated
SonicWall^6,11	Sunnyvale, CA	2005	SonicWall SSL VPN	Unrated		Unrated
vFortress	Bangalore, India	2004	SPAN Product Suite	Unrated		Unrated
WatchGuard	Seattle, WA	2005	Firebox SSL Core VPN⁷ (An SMB appliance based on the Citrix Access Gateway)			See Citrix
Whale Communications¹⁰	Fort Lee, NJ	2002	Intelligent Application Gateway	Visionary	Same	Visionary

1. AEP & Netilla merged to become AEP Networks in December 2004; acquired V-ONE in June 2005
2. F5 Networks acquired uRoam in July 2003
3. Juniper Networks acquired NetScreen in April 2004 which had earlier acquired Neoteris in October 2003
4. Symantec acquired Safeweb in October 2003
5. SafeNet acquired Rainbow Techologies in March 2004
6. SonicWall acquired enkoo's assets in 4Q2005
7. WatchGuard resells Citrix Secure Access Gateway software on own hardware appliance; maximum of 200 concurrent users
8. Blue Coat acquired Permeo Technologies in January 2006
9. Citrix aquired Net6 in December 2004; acquired NetScaler in 2005
10. Microsoft acquired Whale Communications in July 2006; now a wholly-owned subsidiary
11. SonicWall acquired Aventail in June 2007
12. Citrix purchased Caymas Assets in June 2007
13. The Stonesoft appliance uses an enhanced version of the Portwise's SSL VPN software