Product Reviews

With more people either working from home or away from the office, providing secure remote access is an increasing challenge. With its BiGuard S5, Billion believes it has the ideal answer.

The small appliance is a fully fledged router, but it's also a virtual private network (VPN) gateway that provides a secure connection to your network. We've seen similar devices before, but the S5 aims to be the simplest product for end-users, as it requires no software to be installed or configured on a remote PC. Instead, users log on to the BiGuard's webpage, which gives them access to only the services and remote access they have permission to use.

You might expect a product such as this to be fiendishly difficult to configure, but it was easier than we expected, and there's a detailed manual provided in the box, too. At its heart, remote connections are granted via the Network Extender, Transport Extender, or individual applications.

The Network Extender is the easiest to understand, as it joins a remote PC to your local network as though it was directly connected. The connection is secured by SSL (the same encryption standard used for secure websites), and a remote PC is capable of doing everything that a local one can do, down to accessing shared folders, using servers and accessing email.

Applications installed on the remote PC that need access to a specific server, such as database clients, will run just as if the computer were on the local network, too. It's easy for a remote user, as once they've logged on to the router they just need to click the Network Extender button and all the necessary software is installed over the web.

Application connections are also quite easy to understand, as they provide access to a specific application or service. The BiGuard has a list of eight supported services, including FTP, web, file sharing and remote control using VNC. Just create a new application, give it a name, choose the service you want to run and then enter the IP address where the service is running.

The reason for the

ADVERTISEMENT

relatively low number of services is that applications are all run from a web browser without the remote user having to install any software. Once a user is logged on to the system, they're presented with a list of applications to which they have access. Selecting one, such as a remote VNC session, loads a new Window which connects and provides the relevant form of remote access. Without any knowledge of how the system works or what software they're using, a user is given the level of access they need.

There are bound to be some services that aren't covered by Applications and where you don't want a user to have full network access with Network Extender, which is where the Transport Extender comes in. This lets you configure the precise services and computers you want to allow access to, such as a database. You must configure this manually and enter the IP address and port numbers of the service to which you want to grant access. When users select Transport Extender after they've logged on, the services are opened up. Running the relevant application, such as a database client, then connects and works just as if the user were on your local network.

For added security, you can choose who has access to what by creating users and groups. For example, you can configure the BiGuard S5 so one user only has access to an FTP server through an application you created; a more advanced user that you trust can be given access to the Network Extender so they have full access to the network.

While this gives you flexibility over who connects to what, it's a little tiresome to set up. You can say which applications belong to a group, but users added to that group aren't automatically given access to these applications. You cannot configure a group with default access permissions to the Network Extender or Transport Extender. Instead, you have to configure each user manually, choosing which applications and services you want them to access. Neither can you configure the Transport Extender to allow services based on the user; you can set only one Transport Extender configuration that all users with access to it use.

These are minor complaints, though. The BiGuard S5 is the easiest VPN gateway we've seen. Its detailed control means you can choose to open up your network as you see fit, with selected applications for less trusted users who don't require full access, and full network access for those users you do trust. With no client software required - just a web browser and a web address - this is an incredibly easy system to use. The BiGuard S5 is an excellent choice for the small business that is serious about secure remote access.