Juniper Networks on Dec. 4 launched a new operating software release for its SSL VPN appliances that further broadens the range of end user devices that it supports.
Junipers new IVE (Instant Virtual Extranet) version 5.4 release extends SSL security to Windows Mobile 5.0 and other PDA clients as well as Intel-based Macintosh and Red Hat Fedora-based Linux.
The support brings client/server-based access to Windows Outlook Mobile devices and applications, such as Pocket Outlook with Active Sync, allowing enterprises to push e-mail to users accessing Outlook via a PDA.
The new Mobile 5.0 client “allows you to deliver e-mails to the end user as soon as they arrive on the Exchange server,” said Vaisahali Ghiya, senior product line manager for the SSL VPN in Sunnyvale, Calif.
The thin client software is automatically provisioned and installed when the user types in the URL for the Juniper secure access gateway. Once they are authenticated, the thin client is sent to the end user “on the fly,” she said. That capability, which already existed for laptops, has been extended to PDAs.
Network administrators can selectively allow access to certain resources for both web-based and client/server application access to ensure that attacks cant be launched from a PDA.
“The SSL VPN gateway acts as a proxy to the PDA user to allow you to be specific on which applications the PDA user should have access to, and it allows you to audit PDA access in great detail,” said Ghiya. “You can find out from the log on the secure access gateway what file share the user had access to, what applications users accessed in the corporate network and so on,” she added.
The new release also includes support for the Firefox 1.5 browser as well as Microsofts recently launched Internet Explorer version 7 browser.
IVE 5.4 also allows Windows Mobile 5.0 users to roam without having to re-authenticate as they cross different wireless access points or different types of wireless networks. That support works across General Packet Radio Service, Enhanced Data GSM Environment and Wi-Fi networks.
The new release is available now.
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