Netscreen Remote Access 500 Family enables SMES to increase employee productivity with low cost of ownership.

Juniper Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: JNPR) has launched its SSL VPN solutions for the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) market, providing SMEs with a secure, cost-effective and easy-to-deploy solution for remote employees to access corporate networks.

Built upon the industry's leading SSL VPN platform the Juniper Networks Instant Virtual Extranet (IVE) platform the NetScreen Remote Access 500 appliances are optimized for SMEs with packaging, pricing and easy implementation tailored to this market.

According to Infonetics Research's latest study, Juniper Networks leads the global SSL VPN industry with 45 percent market share and was also named the global SSL VPN leader by Forrester Research, Frost & Sullivan and Instat/MDR. It has also earned a leader quadrant position in Gartner Group's SSL VPN Magic Quadrant.

"There is strong demand in Asia Pacific for Virtual Private Networks based on SSL technology," said Nitin Acharekar, industry manager, Frost & Sullivan. "Our forecast for the SSL VPN market in APAC is at least US$10 mn for 2004. In the first quarter of this year, the region had already sold US$4.4 million," he added.

The SME segment represents a growing opportunity for SSL VPN solutions.

Infonetics Research reports that the worldwide SME segment is expected to double deployments of remote access VPNs over the next several years. Infonetics found that, "In 2002, 24 per cent of small, 37 per cent of medium, and 60 per cent of large organizations had deployed remote access VPNs; by 2007 the numbers will be 55 per cent, 74 per cent, and 90 per cent, respectively.

The NetScreen Remote Access 500 series products are delivered in a purpose-built appliance and eliminate the need to harden servers or make changes to existing infrastructure, resulting in a cost-effective, secure, remote access solution that is easy for customers to deploy and simple for end-users to operate.

The NetScreen Remote Access 500 series complements the existing Juniper Networks NetScreen Secure Access product family, which offers broad access options, high performance scalability and access granularity tailored for sophisticated intranet and extranet environments. Both product lines leverage the robust security design of the IVE platform, including enterprise strength authentication, authorization and auditing (AAA), comprehensive endpoint security, and a core security architecture that has been audited by leading third-party security experts, such as TruSecure Corporation, Cryptography Research, Inc. and certified by ICSA Labs.

"With the launch of the NetScreen Remote Access 500 series, we are expanding our market leadership and addressing new customer and channel business opportunities," said Adam Judd, vice president, Asia Pacific, Juniper Networks. "We've created a product family that is specifically tailored for the SME segment, delivering our industry-leading security technology in a turn-key design to meet the needs of APAC SMEs."

The new product series represents a continuation of the Juniper Networks NetScreen Medium Enterprise strategy launched in February 2004 that benefits medium enterprise-focused customers and channel partners with new products designed to meet specific medium enterprise customer requirements.

The NetScreen Medium Enterprise channel programme also includes education, training and tools to help channel partners build sales momentum in the medium enterprise market.

"The Asia Pacific market has a high proportion of SMEs," said Judd. "The Remote Access 500 series' design squarely addresses the needs of SMEs in the region. Smaller companies often do not have large IT departments, and the Remote Access 500 family allows them to protect their networks with strong, flexible security, even with limited IT resources."