Fw: Cisco Positioned as a Leader in the 2010 Magic Quadrant for SSL VPNs

The Magic Quadrant.
Captured from original Gartner's Report

I am refreshed by a blog post on Cisco's "The Platform" blog, that Cisco is now "positioned as leader in SSL VPNs".

Cisco Blog, The Platform, Cisco Positioned as a Leader in the 2010 Magic Quadrant for SSL VPNs

(Yes, Cisco used to call SSL VPN as WebVPN.)


A Little Surprise

In mentioned Gartner's Magic Quadrant, only Juniper and Cisco are classified as leaders. Juniper as leader is without doubt. Cisco, on the other side,  is a bit surprise to me!

However, I would like to point out Cisco is catching up very closely to Apple's i-products, such as Apple's iPad. I personally would choose Cisco as SSL VPN provider, if Apple's iPhone and iPad are required to be supported!

Cost of Cisco's Might be Very Attractive

The comments of Gartner in the same report about Cisco is quite interesting. It looks to me the cost to buy Cisco's SSL VPN solutions could be much lower than I expected.

Its SSL VPN entry cost and discount rates are the lowest reported. Other surveyed vendors consider Cisco a major competitive threat, earning Cisco a close second place after Juniper Networks as a named competitive threat.
...
... and may indicate that in some cases SSL is purchased incidentally, rather than intentionally.

(Incidentally! Could that means the costs are almost unnoticeable?)

Conclusion

In addition to its support of Apple's iPhone/iPad, it's a good idea to consider Cisco as your next SSL VPN provider when the budgets are really tight in your business.