3rd party VPN software

[nokuntrol]

What are some advantages of using a 3rd party VPN setup over the one that comes with Win2k Server?

We are currently using PPTP VPN that came with Win2k. The clients are using the Windows VPN connection.

I see a lot of advertisments for other VPN clients such as Greenbow and Cisco. Why would I spend extra money for this 3rd party software?

 

[nokuntrol]

Also, we only have about 20 users who need VPN. They don't all connect at once. Probably 10 at most and at the same time.

 

[lgarner]

I don't know about Greenbow, but Cisco isn't a software provider; they make the Pix firewall and a VPN concentrator, both hardware devices.

One obvious reason is if you don't have a Windows server, then you need something else. Another is features, like a built-in software firewall on the client (kind of like XP's, really) which can be enforced from the VPN device.

Flexibility is another, since you can easily use PPTP or IPSec. Now there's also SSL on some of the appliances, but I haven't tried that.

Reliability is a big one. Windows and computers have come a long way, but my experience favors a hardware solution over software for high uptimes and fast failover/recovery.

For the small environment, it may not be worth the $1000 or so investment for a Cisco device.