Juniper sells SSL-VPN - what a sad day

[scottdware_]

Yeah, that was a fantastic article, Kevin.

[df_]

I was hoping that they would only be selling their mobile device management piece.  Still no real word from Juniper for existing customers. 

[rswinter_]

I've got lunch with our Juiper Rep next week to talk about this, but my first impression is that nothing will really change except for the name on the bills...

[mykegoneby_]

Architected and installed our new mags last septemeber and still converting all of our VPN users over and now this..... Business as usual in the IT world.

[Layer3Man_]

I'm late to the party as I just found out about this today.  Thanks to all the people who worked on this product, including Kev Peterson.  I read your blog when you were managing the product; it was very refreshing reading the thoughts of someone so closely tied to the product.  In addition to being solid and a useful tool for the enterprise, it was extremely fun working with this platform.

I agree with Mutt - from the outside this seems like a horrible idea.  Quite frankly, I found this product to be one of the strongest in the portfolio.  And in addition to not having a solid remote access solution (SRX remote access has been lacking), they've dumped their NAC solution as well.  So now what is Juniper's commitment to security?  Is this a route/switch shop with a firewall line?

The sad thing here is that this was much more than just an SSL VPN; the proxying, file sharing, SSH terminals, RDP/Citrix connectivity, the SAML federation, multi-tenancy, etc. made this a swiss army box of sorts.  It was great for facilitating B2B communications as well.  Part of the problem I saw when consulting is that most of the enterprises had implemented the box for Network Connect and nothing more.  It was like having a Ferrari and keeping it under 55mph and only driving on the weekends.

I'm open to hearing anyone else's feedback on alternatives.  Everything else that I've seen over the years has been disappointing, but hopefully another vendor can bring half the functionality.

Thanks again.

[koma_wu_]

---

@kpex wrote:
My perspective: http://2-ID8.com/junos-pulse-leading/

How about UAC/NAC? I have some pretty strong opinions on this, but I want to wait a while and see what messaging trickles out before really weighing in. ThereÕs potentially some very compelling upside, especially if they can take a more vendor agnostic approach to NAC.

This is actually the point I do not understand. We have implemented the MAG because SRXes simply do not offer an adequate solution for user authentication, especially when running in a cluster configuration. I know that the MAG for plain UAC is almost the artillery piece for duck shooting but while there was no other option to get what we need when using SRXes this worked like a charm for over a year now. For now I think we simply have to accept that move of Juniper and wait how this will advance if it does...

When talking about future I do not completely agree to what was posted in the blog - corporate guidelines can be really stiff and stubborn. This is one point why I do not think that SSL VPN will disappear that fast it is presented. The other thing is that there is a big difference in controlled VPN access to completely locked down environments with potentially confidential data and a internet reachable service that has a fancy new security mechanism... just my point of view...

Also - when talking about future it is sad to see that Juniper seems to lose pace with other vendors also in other product lines. One one hand this was one of the reasons for this decision but on the other hand a very good and leading product was sold to focus on struggling things... I wonder if there really was no other way to focus more on those.

[mwdmeyer_]

If Juniper were smart they would have SSL VPN ready to go in 12.1X47 for the SRX

Make a bunch of cash by selling off the old SSL VPN and then integrate it into the SRX range like is should be.

[choo_]

As I read it correctly, Juniper sold the Junos Pulse Mobile Security Suite, not the SSL VPN

http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300073487/juniper-networks-to-sell-mobile-security-suite-for-250-...

[muttbarker_]

You are incorrect - they sold off the entire Pulse unit which includes SSL.

[Mrkool_]

so when i told my management they want to jump ship. Is this what everyeone else doing or they are going to stick with this for now and see how things go?