The concept of AppGate is simple: no users are able to access information that they are not permitted to see. AppGate works as a firewall and blocks all access to applications. It is based around the user, not the network, so no more costly network infrastructure changes.

Access can be controlled at a truly granular level – users can be granted access to applications, access to particular files, or even particular URL’s on the intranet. This level of control is perfect for external partners.
All usage of information is always logged making it possible for the system administrator to have a close view on anything that happens for reporting purposes.

The concept of roles is another important aspect of AppGate. A user can have one or more roles. A role is simply a selection of services that a user can access depending on criteria such as how secure the device is that they are using, whether it is a mobile or laptop, and whether it is owned by the company or not. It is possible to give role-based access to groups such as sales or administration. Apart from roles, different rules can of course be applied, for example when the user connects through a mobile phone, permission is granted to only access specific applications. Others rules apply when the user connects with a PC.
All decisions are made automatically in the background without user intervention.

A law firm with five offices has no shared infrastructure and decides for cost and control purposes to move servers and applications to a collocation centre. Document and email systems will be physically present at this one site and the employees will use the Internet to access the applications.

They use an AppGate system to authenticate users and make sure that sensitive internal information can be accessed only by the persons requiring access, something which is mandated by law in many countries.
The AppGate system has made it possible for the law-firm to have a “virtual intranet” and gives easy access to the central resources from both other offices and from remote workers.