Remote Hot Spot – The Market For SSL VPNs Catches Fire

Welcome to the world of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Virtual Private Networks (VPNS), the hottest of hotspots in town, fuelled by the surge towards more remote working for employees – from home, behind a firewall on another company’s network, at a hotel using a broadband connection, on wireless LANs, or at a public kiosk. Wherever you like.

The SSL VPN market has just exploded, with over £230m already invested in the sector. Infonetics Research, for example, predicts that SSL VPNs will become a £350m ($607m) market opportunity by 2006 – for a combined annual growth rate of 105 percent.

The mix of having the right technology – SSL VPNS – at the right time – now – to suit a business need – remote access – has proved a perfect one. Add in legislation guaranteeing workers more “place-of-work” flexibility, and the availability of broadband connections, and the mix has become a heady cocktail that the market wants and needs.

Remote-working is sweeping the working world, a by-product of the need for workers en route between appointments to catch up on email via a Wi-Fi connection in the nearest Café Latte. Or spend quality time with their families, avoiding the pointless daily commute usually spent in a traffic jam, or stuck on a stationary train. Or access their mail and documents easily and securely when working abroad.

It’s a move that satisfies everyone: the employer, the employee, and even the environment. After all, taking a few million people off creaking, overburdened transport systems is surely no bad thing either. And the numbers backing up remote working are spectacular:

• By 2010, nearly 27 million Europeans will become new remote workers, or “e-Workers”, according to the EU’s Emergence Project
• The UK will have the largest number. By 2005, in the UK, homeworkers will top 8 million. In 2001, there were 2.2m.
• Worker productivity can increase by up to 40% through remote-working
• A person working 1 or 2 days a week at home can save a company £3500- £7,000 a year through lower turnover, reduced office space, and improved productivity
• Savings on lunches, wear and tear on a car, and clothing can amount to £600 a year savings for employees, as well as reduced stress and an increased sense of freedom.
• And in these days when more flexible working and improved technology means higher expectations, your more flexible staff, working remotely, mean companies can now offer 24 x 7 customer services. Your enquiry can just as easily be replied to by someone working from home.

It’s all as a result of change:

• Change in the tools available for work, primarily VPN technology
• Change in lifestyle, because people only work to live, not live to work
• Change in attitudes – by employers, employees, and governments

It is SSL VPN technology that has ended all of the frustrations of working at home, such as the inability to gain access to all your files and applications. And the great thing about SSL VPNs is that they are secure, easy to use, and you don’t have to download applications in order to use them.

Companies benefit by having a secure “data tunnel” through which their encrypted communications are sent. They offer a window on the files and applications you would use in the office. You can use your Web browser to open the files you would normally be able to access, amend and print documents, check your email and diary, and update databases. From a company’s viewpoint, the SSL technology also enables it to ensure that no one gets to files or programs they shouldn’t. In fact, the technology is so versatile that companies can even use it as a secure gateway to authenticate all of their employees – including office workers – before they gain access to applications and data.

SSL VPNS offer:

• Fast access
• They are easy to use
• Accessible from anywhere
• Simple and quick to deploy, yet, most importantly, are
• Highly secure, offering 128-bit encrypted access to remote workers
• Costs up to 40% lower than previously available VPN remote access technology
• Simple support issues can take just 5 minutes to cure, not two hours to endure.
• Ability to safeguard access to the business network for all employees, not just remote workers

Still need convincing as to the value of SSL VPNs? Then here are another 10 good reasons why the SSL VPNs market is so hot and a solution that will soon become a firm and established part of our everyday working lives.

1. The technology is available now, it works, and is easy to deploy
2. Businesses need secure remote access
3. Analysts have recognised SSL VPNs’ market value
4. Key vendors are jockeying to guarantee their future
5. It can help secure an organization’s entire enterprise, not just mobile users
6. Services such as coffee shops see themselves supporting mobile customers
6. Employers know time spent commuting is wasted time
7. Employees want work to suit their own commitments
8. Remote working has Government support through legislation
9. Widespread, cheaper Broadband access is now available
10. The need for corporate data security never goes away

Mobile-enabled workers are the future, and SSL VPN networks offer them a secure, straight, simple access route to their data. With a majority of companies still looking to gain a key, competitive edge by empowering their workers, but with security still a management worry, you can expect the SSL VPN market to continue to bubble: for remote users, SSL VPN vendors, and investors alike.