'Decision making takes time among Indian SMBs'

Usha Prasad

Aventail, market leader in the SSL VPN industry, has been making a conscious effort to tackle the SMB sector by offering secure access platform.

Aventail has been positioned as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant four years in a row, and has been identified as a market and technology leader by IDC Research, Infonetics, Frost & Sullivan, Forrester, and META Group.

Founded in 1996, it launched its first SSL-based software for remote access product in 1997. Later, it introduced the Aventail family of SSL VPN appliances in January 2003.

Aventail Smart Technology SSL VPN is the only SSL VPN to provide one gateway, a common user experience and centralized policy for all devices, users, and resources. The Smart Technology platform leads the market in ease of use and management, application reach, and end point security.

Speaking to CIOL, Ajay Kumar N, Country Manager, Aventail, says "Though Aventail is doing relatively well in the enterprise segment, which is much quicker in adapting to new technology and solutions, a conscious effort is being made to tackle the SMB sector."

Aventail's EX 750 and EX 1600 products have been most sought after by the industry. While EX 750 has been designed for the price conscious company and as a flagship product for SMBs, the EX 1600 is targeted at the high-end SMBs that are growing to become an enterprise, says Ajay.

Our products have been developed keeping in mind the price perspective so as to bring in more SMBs and small enterprises, he adds.

"Though SMBs today are open to discussion on adopting new technology as well as on the price factor, the decision making process is still slow in India. However, there is a gradual improvement," he feels.

But what's bothering vendors like us is that the gestation period of a sale deal is pretty long and we need to address this. Keeping this in mind, Aventail has reduced the price of its products by developing a special piece of hardware that is cost effective," informs Ajay.

In the current scenario, with more and more people working outside the perimeter of a company, we have more users of the software outside the workplace. "The perimeter is actually shrinking," he says.

Aventail is gearing up to cater to this trend where people will work with more mobile device support. "We are looking at different perspectives than what our contemporaries are looking for. Our products are easy to deploy and are user-friendly. This is our strength," he adds.

As regards Aventail's specific solutions to SMBs, the EX 750/ST 750 is suitable for a small- to mid-sized company, and supports up to 25 concurrent remote access users. This product is an SSL VPN appliance that offers remote access for all kinds of applications.

The Aventail EX-750 offers:

* The advantages of a proven, secure, and easy-to-manage SSL VPN platform at a lower cost;

* A cost-effective standalone unit as an ideal solution, should your user base grow beyond 25 concurrent users; and

* Help improve manageability, security and productivity.