Customers of public cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) provider CloudSigma will now have the option of secure, remote access to their cloud resources from anywhere on any device, thanks to a partnership with networking and software technology specialist OpenVPN.
The appliance gives IT departments the ability to better control or limit access to company data, which can be done through the Access Server administrative user interface and granular access control features, and with mobility capability, can be accessed with any Windows, Mac OS X, iOS or Android device.
Francis Dinha, CEO of OpenVPN Technologies, told eWEEK there are three main reasons small businesses should invest in secure access—for one, WiFi is not secure, so eavesdropping or other monitoring of private information by any person using the same hotspot is very easy.
Second, the Internet is constructed with a mesh of routers that can be deployed and managed by any unauthorized entity, making it easy for a malicious party to eavesdrop.
Lastly, Dinha pointed out that browsers are very vulnerable and users and small businesses don’t have sufficient knowledge about security measures that must take place frequently on browsers.
Similar to CloudSigma's private patching technology for enterprises, the appliance gives small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and remote workers secure access to their public cloud deployments and resources without having unencrypted traffic traverse a public IP line.
"A virtual appliance is very convenient for SMBs because a user doesn’t have to buy dedicated hardware and users are also able to reduce the cost of the hardware needed to deploy a solution," Dinha said. "There also becomes rapid and faster deployment of solutions on a cloud and it’s easier to operate and manage than dedicated hardware."
The appliance provides a bridge between a company's on-premise servers and those within CloudSigma's public cloud, whether they are connected to the virtual local area network (VLAN) or an external network.
By connecting to the VLANs within CloudSigma's public cloud, customers don't have to expose their services over the Internet, and can instead use the virtual private network (VPN) service to grant remote workers and branch offices more secure access.
"The appliance would help any organization to reduce costs because you’re sharing the same hardware with other organizations and, at the same time, having the same benefits as the dedicated hardware," Dinha said. "Also, the pricing for a virtual appliance on a cloud might be structured as a monthly subscription model, thereby eliminating capital expenditure and improving cash flow."
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