Benefits of Forefront UAG DirectAccess

Updated: December 2, 2010

Applies To: Unified Access Gateway

Forefront UAG DirectAccess benefits include the following:

  • Improved manageability of remote users—Forefront UAG DirectAccess enables IT professionals to manage mobile computers by updating Group Policy settings and distributing software updates any time the mobile computer has Internet connectivity, even if the user is not logged on. This flexibility allows IT professionals to manage remote computers on a regular basis, and ensures that mobile users stay up-to-date with security and system health policies.

  • More secure and flexible network infrastructure—Forefront UAG DirectAccess takes advantage of technologies, such as, Internet Protocol security (IPsec) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), providing a more secure and flexible network infrastructure for enterprises by using authentication and encryption, as follows:

    • Authentication—Forefront UAG DirectAccess authenticates the client computer, enabling the computer to connect to the intranet before the user logs on.

    • Encryption—Forefront UAG DirectAccess uses IPsec to provide encryption for communications across the Internet.

  • IT simplification and cost reduction—Forefront UAG enables you to reduce your costs by:

    • Providing unified management—Forefront UAG provides unified management for all the remote access technologies.

    • Hardware consolidation—Forefront UAG manages remote access technologies, load balancing and array functionality, and NAT64 and DNS64 on the same server using the same Management console.

  • Extended access to IPv4-only resources—Forefront UAG DirectAccess uses integrated NAT64 and DNS64 to enable clients to also access IPv4-only resources.

  • Simplified deployment and administration—The Forefront UAG DirectAccess configuration is incorporated into the Forefront UAG Management console, and is configured using interactive wizards that provide simpler deployment and management.

  • Enhanced scalability, high availability and management—By utilizing its array management capabilities and integrated Windows network load balancing, Forefront UAG enables you to set up multiple Forefront UAG DirectAccess servers in an array, providing high availability and scalability.

Forefront UAG DirectAccess also enables users to get more out of other Windows 7 networking improvements, such as:

  • Federated Search—With Federated Search, desktop searches can include files and Web pages on your intranet whenever the user is connected to your intranet. Because DirectAccess connects users to the intranet when then connect to the Internet, Federated Search works automatically any time that the user has an Internet connection.

  • Folder Redirection—With Folder Redirection, folders can automatically synchronize between multiple computers across the network. If you enable DirectAccess, users with both mobile and desktop computers can stay synchronized automatically whenever they connect to the Internet.