NetGear (http://www.netgear.com) has announced the ProSafe Wireless-N
VPN Firewall (SRXN3205) — which the company says is the first
product to combine dual-band Wireless-N with SSL and IPsec VPN. It
costs US$485 and is Mac compatible.

By incorporating these advanced features, NETGEAR is providing small
offices with an enterprise-class networking solution that addresses
both top security and wireless performance needs, but at a fraction
of the cost, says Jason Leung, NetGear’s senior product line manager
for SMB security.

“With the SRXN3205, we have integrated the strengths of our Dual WAN
Gigabit SSL VPN Firewall (FVS336G) with that of a dual-band
Wireless-N access point,” he says. “Since the embedded dual-band
Wireless-N radio works at either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz spectrum, offices
in the middle of network upgrades can run at 2.4 GHz for full
backwards compatibility with legacy 802.11g, or 5GHz for maximum
Wireless-N throughput and range.”

Similar to NetGear’s Dual WAN Gigabit SSL VPN Firewall (FVS336G), the
ProSafe Wireless-N VPN Firewall offers two types of Virtual Private
Network (VPN) tunnels — Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and IP Security
(IPsec). With this dual option, the Firewall provides 25-user offices
with optimal, secure remote connections to their wireless networks.
In addition to VPN flexibility, the SRXN3205 supports businesses
transitioning from legacy networks to draft 802.11n networks.

The SRXN3205 Wireless-N VPN Firewall supports up to five SSL VPN
tunnels and five IPsec VPN tunnels simultaneously for enhanced
protection from network security threats, says Leung. SSL VPN tunnels
enable clientless, individual remote access to corporate data,
anytime and anywhere — without needing to install a software client.

What’s more, the SSL VPNs support industry-strength encryption
algorithms and features such as automatic cache cleanup after session
termination. IPsec VPN tunnels deliver site-to-site tunnels
connecting multiple offices together, as well as legacy, client-based
remote access. The Firewall also provides denial-of-service (DoS)
attack protection, stateful packet inspection (SPI) to curb hacker
threats, URL keyword filtering, SYSLOG support, and e-mail reporting.

NetGear’s SRXN3205 delivers the coverage and speed advantages of
draft 802.11n wireless networks, says Leung. Operating in either
2.4GHz or 5GHz radio bands, the SRXN3205 provides the flexibility to
transition from legacy networks. The 2.4 GHz radio band operating
mode provides Wireless-N connections while maintaining support for
existing 802.11g and 802.11b networks.