The new way to pay for secure VPN connections

The new way to pay for secure VPN connections

The introduction of one-year and three-year licensing options for Zyxel’s SecuExtender IPSec VPN client software will make life simpler for both customers and partners, says Thorsten Kurpjuhn, Security Market Development Manager Europe at Zyxel.

After months of working from home it now seems certain that most organisations will not go back to having everyone come into the office every day. At least, not for a while. The fact is, no-one really knows exactly how working practices will alter or whether the changes will be permanent.

Whatever happens in the months and years to come, for now there will most certainly be a continued need for secure connections between employees’ homes and central office networks. Zyxel provides this through the ZyWALL VPN appliances used in the central office, and our SecuExtender IPSec VPN Client, which is installed on the laptop or PC that is used in the home.

Hybrid working

We have seen a huge increase in the use of our VPN solutions over the last 18 months and we expect that to continue. But as most customers don’t yet know exactly how the new blend of working sometimes at home and sometimes in the office is going to pan out just yet – and to give them more flexibility, we are changing to the way we charge for the SecuExtender IPSec VPN Client.

Instead of asking customers to make a one-off purchase of the product i.e. a perpetual license, we are offering the solution on a one-year or a three-year license.

This will make it more flexible and affordable for customers who need to deploy a lot of VPN clients today, but do not know how many they will need in the future. In addition, switching to this new licensing model brings us into line with the way most IT solutions and services are now being consumed.

Zero Trust

At the same time, we are also introducing some new features to our VPN client solution. We are adding the ability to deploy the VPN client software centrally using our Nebula cloud management platform, and to manage bandwidth from the centre. Also, with this new release (version 5.1), our Zero Trust Agent is being added to provide an even higher level of security for remote connections.

These enhancements will be available to all customers who purchase new licenses and to existing clients as they update their firmware. For now, the perpetual license option will still be available but in time, we expect all customers to move across to the new model. If you have any questions or would like to find out more about Zyxel VPN connections and the SecuExtender IPSec VPN Client, please contact your local Zyxel office or trusted partner.

Find out more