VPN technology has long been deployed on a per device basis, enabling secure remote access. The challenge has long been that VPN access has typically been an all-or-nothing proposition, such that users would also backhaul their own personal as well as enterprise traffic.
Juniper Networks is now debuting a mobile solution for that secure remote access challenge in the form of its new Junos AppConnect technology.
Horacio Zambrano, senior director, Product Management and Strategy at Juniper Networks, explained to Enterprise Networking Planet how Junos AppConnect will usher in a new era of per-app VPN functionality.
“We think that the transition from a device-level VPN to a Layer 7 application-specific VPN is pretty transformative in the industry,” Zambrano said.
Zambrano explained that AppConnect is a Software Development Kit (SDK) that a mobile application vendor can use to integrate with a solution to enable an SSL-VPN to a Juniper VPN box on a per-application basis.
Going a step further, Zambrono said that Juniper is working with both Apple and Samsung to directly support per-application VPN tunnels natively in IOS and Android.
“This will present a more transparent experience for BYOD, because users just need to click on the app and then the secure connectivity comes with it and it just works,” Zambrono said. “You don’t have to deal with different passwords and authentication. The idea is about simplifying the experience.”
By having a per-app VPN tunnel, enterprise security is also strengthened, as it limits the traffic headed back to the corporate network. With a per-device VPN tunnel, the typical configuration is for all traffic to be backhauled through the VPN. In the era of BYOD, users use the same device for both business and home consumption. The per-app VPN approach enables organizations to have more granularity with their VPN traffic, specifically isolating the apps that need to be secured.
Juniper also has a Layer 3 device-level mobile VPN technology, Pulse, which will continue to exist and be supported even in the new era of per-app VPN connections. From a revenue perspective, Juniper makes its money on the VPN gateway side, not on the endpoint.
“Once a customer has purchased a Juniper VPN Gateway, the connections from any device are monetized at the gateway with a license, not the endpoint,” Zambrono said. “We’re not adding an extra tax for the per-app VPN tunnel. This is really about enablement and return on investment for organizations with Juniper infrastructure.”
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at Enterprise Networking Planet and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist
