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"Businesses are trying to reconcile two needs," said Brendan Leitch, Juniper Networks' service provider marketing director for Asia-Pacific. "The first is from their own users, who want remote access to central applications and data. The second is to secure the networks from those who should not have access and those that should have access only to specific applications."

One reason for this growth in remote access, according to Matt Young, VP, Blue Coat Systems, Asia-Pacific, is the migration of traditional applications to a web-based architecture that the industry has labeled "application delivery networks" (ADNs). "We're seeing consolidation of servers back into headquarters for compliance issues and better control," he said. "These applications-HR for example-are becoming web-based so that remote access can easily be provided. Salesforce.com is a good example of this trend."

But ADNs, according to Young, generate "huge performance problems and huge security issues." This, in turn, has been driving the acquisition of security appliances which are a combination of firewall and web proxy, to meet end-users' needs for control, acceleration and security. Leitch agrees: "Enterprise customers are asking for three things: easy access to company applications from remote sites and for remote users, protection of the network from intrusions, viruses, hackers, and denial of service attacks, and easy manageability of remote access to the network and the security policies surrounding the network."

Blended threats