F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) vs Zyxel VPN Client comparison

F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM) is an access management proxy solution for managing global access to the enterprise networks, cloud providers, applications, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Through a single management interface, BIG-IP APM consolidates remote, mobile, network, virtual, and web access. 

BIG-IP APM can also serve as a bridge between modern and classic authentication and authorization protocols and methods. For applications which are unable to support modern authentication and authorization protocols, like SAML and OAuth with OIDC, but which do support classic authentication methods, BIG-IP APM converts user credentials to the appropriate authentication standard supported by the application.

BIG-IP APM Benefits:

• Ease of use
• Flexibility
• Ability to integrate with other systems
• Security features
• Granular access control
• Responsive and helpful support team

BIG-IP APM Features:

• Support for Identity Aware Proxy (IAP) enabling Zero Trust application access
• Context-based authorization with dynamic L4/L7 ACLs
• Integration with third-party MFA solutions
• DTLS 2.0 mode for delivering and securing applications
• SAML 2.0 identity federation support
• Support for OAuth 2.0 authorization protocol
• SSO support for classic authentication (Kerberos, header- based, etc.), credential caching, OAuth 2.0, SAML 2.0, and FIDO2 (U2F)
• AAA server authentication and high-availability
• Integration with leading IAM vendor products (Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity)
• BIG IP Edge Client and F5 Access integrate with VMware Horizon ONE (AirWatch), Microsoft Intune and IBM MaaS360
• Risk-based access leveraging third-party UEBA and risk engines (HTTP Connector)

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by BIG-IP APM users.

Mahmmoud Rabie, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, writes that BIG-IP APM is "A highly stable solution for load balancing, but the initial setup is complex."

Clyde Livingston, Senior Process Specialist at Telstra, says that BIG-IP APM is "Easy to use, useful access remotely, but lacking stability."

Chris Lam, Senior Solution Consultant at Macroview Telecom Limited, states that BIG-IP APM is "Useful for remote access VPN and VPI integration with VMware.

Businesses from small to large all need to get ready for the growing demands of an increasingly mobile workforce and expanding distributed work sites, to compete in today’s global market place. Secure remote access has become an imperative to business success.

Zyxel VPN Clients offer a flexibly easy-to-use, easy-to-manage Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution that provides mobile and distributed users with secure, speed and reliable remote access back to corporate resources. Zyxel offers both SSL VPN and IPSec VPN connectivity options for remote client-to-site access. For SSL VPN, Zyxel SecuExtender provides auto-client connectivity for Windows and easy client connectivity for Mac systems. For IPSec VPN, Zyxel IPSec VPN client enables fast 3-step connection wizard that highly improve the user experience and let VPN connection is no longer a daunting task.

Zyxel VPN Client works with Zyxel security appliances using powerful deep packet inspection technology to scan VPN traffic for malicious threats, worms, Trojans and spyware from remote company employees.