Light Reading Publishes Ground-Breaking VPN Test Eight equipment vendors participate in largest ever test of SSL VPN products, conducted by Light Reading, Network Test, and Spirent NEW YORK, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/), the premier information resource for news and analysis of next-generation telecommunications technology, today published the most comprehensive test to date for the important SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Virtual Private Networking (VPN) gateway market. The test set out to identify key standards for performance, scaleability, and security of an important new class of security products, VPN gateways. These products allow secure access to corporate networks from virtually any Web browser, on any device, anywhere. Network Test conducted the test in close collaboration with Spirent Communications. To ensure the impartiality of the results, the test was paid for by Light Reading. Eight equipment vendors took part in this evaluation: Array Networks Inc., Aventail Corp., NetScaler Inc., NetScreen Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:NSCN), Nortel Networks Corp.(NYSE:NT) Toronto, PortWise AB, Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC), and Whale Communications Ltd. That's a record high turnout for any Light Reading test. Key areas assessed in the test included products' transaction rates, response times, and scaleability, as well as support for Microsoft's Outlook Web Access application. The test did not pick an overall winner, finding that each product had strengths in different areas. However, to help network managers choose among different vendors' SSL VPN gateways Light Reading offers a breakdown of which products came out on top in each area of the test, along with an extensive analysis of the test results. "We hope our tests help enterprise network architects make informed decisions in terms of features, performance, and security," said David Newman, president of Network Test. "One reason we attracted so many participants is that we created a new methodology, one that includes what is arguably the killer app for remote access: OWA, the Webified version of Microsoft Outlook." "This is a milestone test in that it establishes an industry standard methodology for testing SSL VPNs," said Mark Fishburn, Vice President, Technical Strategy Spirent Communications "We are delighted to be a part of this test that pushes the performance envelope in the most comprehensive SSL VPN test ever performed in this competitive market segment." The full results are published today on Light Reading's test Web site, Light Testing, (http://www.lightreading.com/testing). Contact: Blythe Teed Marketing Manager Light Reading 212-925-0020 x 106 About Light Reading Light Reading launched in February 2000. Its Website, http://www.lightreading.com/, delivers timely and entertaining in-depth analysis of next-generation telecommunications technology developments for free. Profitable from its inception, Light Reading has rapidly gained a reputation as required reading for anybody associated with telecommunications. 850,000 people visit Light Reading each month. In June 2001, Light Reading launched a sister site, http://www.byteandswitch.com/, which has rapidly become the go-to destination on the Internet for independent analysis of storage networking issues. In 2002, Light Reading acquired and re-launched http://www.unstrung.com/, a site providing analysis of the wireless industry. About Network Test Inc. Network Test is an independent benchmarking and network design consultancy. Its clients include service providers and Fortune 50 enterprises on three continents. The company is headed by David Newman, who formerly managed the award-winning lab test program for Data Communications magazine for nearly 10 years. Newman is also the author of the IETF specification for firewall performance measurement and a coauthor of a pending draft on quality-of-service measurement. About Spirent Communications Spirent Communications (http://www.spirentcom.com/) is a global provider of integrated performance analysis and service assurance systems that enable the development and deployment of next-generation networking technology such as Internet telephony, broadband services, 3G wireless, global navigation satellite systems, and network security equipment. Spirent's solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers in 30 countries, including the world's largest equipment manufacturers, service providers, enterprises and governments. Based in Rockville, Maryland, Spirent Communications reported 2002 revenue of $476 million and has 1,800 employees worldwide. The company is the largest business group of Spirent plc, traded on the London and New York Stock Exchanges (LSE: SPT, NYSE: SPM; CUSIP number: 84856M209). DATASOURCE: Light Reading CONTACT: Blythe Teed, Marketing Manager of Light Reading, , or 212-925-0020 x 106 Web site: http://www.lightreading.com/

Copyright