VPNet hooks up with BT and Allasso in Europe

US virtual private network (VPN) vendor VPNet has announced its entry into the European market, and will sign security specialist Allasso as its first European distributor.

US virtual private network (VPN) vendor VPNet has announced its entry into the European market, and will sign security specialist Allasso as its first European distributor.

The company also said BT will use VPNet products in its EquIP network that the telecoms giant offers to SMEs.

Lynda Colman, European managing director of VPNet, said: "Although all the major networking vendors offer VPN products, VPNet's dedicated hardware outperforms router-based products to such an extent that it addresses a different market to Cisco, Nortel and Lucent."

Bernie Dodwell, marketing and business development manager at Allasso, said the distributor evaluated about 20 manufacturers with VPN products and found that few of them could offer products with the manageability needed for large-scale corporate networks.

Dodwell said: "What we needed was a product that separated network management from user management."

VPNet is also seeking another distributor in the UK, but will select one with a different reseller base to Allasso's, Colman said.

Dodwell said although VPNet offers an entry-level product for up to 200 users, it comes into its own for large firms that handle many remote users and multiple sites. Networking vendors such as Cisco also offer VPN routers, but BT's selection of VPNet confirms such products are not up to large, complex networks, he claimed.

VPNet's products are based on proprietary hardware which works alongside existing network infrastructure.