 |
| NetScreen-SA
5000 v3.3 |
RATING
4.5 |
 |
|
| Company:
Net-Screen Technologies
Price: $50,000. Pros: Strong authenti-cation
and access control features; many “thin client” options
to support cross-platform users; innovative mail pass-through authenti-cation;
good control over SSL security settings; network extension more
controllable than most. Cons: Report-ing moderately
weak; cache cleaner un-acceptably slow; no FTP support. |
|
| Nokia Secure
Access System v1.1 |
RATING
4.4 |
|
|
| Company:
Nokia Price:
$55,000 as tested. Pros: Outstanding fine-grained
access control; very good authentication support including certificates
and group-mapping features; very smart breakin/evasion features.
Cons: Having two management interfaces can be confusing;
logging via IPSO system is painful; lacking content-sensitive help;
sparse GUI; portal support poor. |
|
|
| FirePass
Controller 4000 v4.0.2 |
RATING
3.9 |
|
|
| Company:
F5 Networks Price:
$24,990 as tested. Pros: Broad range of applications
and authentication methods supported; delegated management; outstanding
reporting/ logging; virus scanning on uploads. Cons:
Access control not finely grained; groups difficult to configure. |
|
| Symantec
Clientless VPN Gateway v4.0.2 |
RATING
3.8 |
|
|
| Company:
Symantec Price:
Starts at $9,500. Pros: Excellent access control
model and configurability; real-time status and management very
well done. Cons: More bugs throughout than most
other products; good think-ing in many areas clouded by brittle
implementation; Layer 2 VPN is poor. |
|
| Netilla Secutiry
Platform v4.0.1 |
RATING
3.3 |
|
|
| Company:
Netilla Networks
Price: $30,000 as tested. Pros:
Outstanding support for terminal-based applications; additional
network-layer firewall and DHCP features; session shadowing for
support; add-ons to Windows Terminal Services, such as printer support;
great documentation. Cons: No LDAP support; access
control not finely grained; management GUI is slow. |
|
| e-Gap Remote
Access Appliance v2.5 |
RATING
3.3 |
|
|
| Company:
Whale
Communications Price: Starting at $23,000.
Pros: Application-layer firewall provides extensive
control. Cons: Management system complex and lacks
central control; highly Windows-centric reduces compatibility with
other authentication schemae; documentation needs significant improvement. |
|
| AEP SureWare
A-Gate AG-600 v2 |
RATING
3.0 |
|
|
| Company:
AEP Systems Price: $9,000 as tested. Pros:
Small form factor; built-in terminal services application translation.
Cons: Very limited application support; poor configuration
capabilities; start-up configuration insecure by default; weak auditing/logging;
no internal portal. |
| |
 |
NetScreen |
Nokia |
F5 |
Symantec |
Netilla |
Whale |
AEP |
| Application
support 30% |
4.5 |
4 |
4 |
3.5 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
| Access
control 30% |
4.5 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
3.5 |
3 |
| Interoperability
25% |
4.5 |
4 |
4.5 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| Authentication
10% |
4.5 |
5 |
4 |
3.5 |
3 |
4 |
3.5 |
| Logging
and reporting 5% |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
TOTAL
SCORE 
|
4.5 |
4.4 |
3.9 |
3.8 |
3.3 |
3.3 |
3.0 |
|
| Scoring
Key: 5: Exceptional; 4:
Very good; 3: Average; 2: Below
average; 1: Consistently subpar |
|