VPN Travels from LAN to 3G

By Dave Nixon

US communications developer Smith Micro has asserted at the Mobile World Congress that it is able to supply persistent secure sessions connecting mobile devices and enterprise applications, regardless of the client device moveing from one category of connection to another.

The company said this signifies that a user may perhaps connect via the office LAN or WLAN, then travel outside and change to wireless broadband or a public hotspot, say, without requiring to log into the VPN or the application over again.

The technology is dependent upon a VPN gateway device which communicates with a VPN mobility client and a connection manager on the device. The client software incorporates an auto-disconnect security feature. This senses a wired LAN connection and renders the wireless connections inoperative to avoid the device from becoming an ad-hoc hotspot.

Smith Micro said that the client software supports some 300 different connection devices, for instance Wi-Fi adapters and 3G modems, and 200 carriers world-wide. Additionally it permits the IT manager to push applications to the mobile device, modify device properties and implement policies.

Hitherto the client software is singularly offered for Windows PCs and Windows Mobile or PocketPC hand-helds.

Nonetheless, Smith Micro has in addition presently made its initial forays into Symbian elsewhere in its product line-up, with the release of a fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) client for Series 60 and UIQ.

The software, called QuickLink IMS, facilitates WiFi-enabled phones to roam effortlessly between WiFi and cellular.