Equinux on Monday debuted VPN Tracker 5, its next-generation IPSec-based VPN client for Mac OS X. VPN Tracker 5, the company said, has been completely re-written from the ground up and optimized for use on remote workstations. Featuring an entirely new user interface, VPN Tracker 5 also brings a greatly improved IPSec engine and a number of other features for working within workgroups. The company said the new user interface makes it easier to configure and manage connections and a new interactive help system points out necessary settings as well as uncovers configuration errors. In addition, VPN Tracker scans the error log and suggests what needs to be done to fix any problems, thereby reducing the number of support requests.

"We were thrilled by the enormous response to VPN Tracker 5 beta and are very excited to release the next generation of VPN Tracker today", said equinux CEO Till Schadde, "VPN Tracker 5 proides great functionality for everyone: system administrators, workgroups and end users alike."

In order to deploy VPN Tracker on multiple workstations, VPN Tracker 5 Professional can now create disk images with the client as well as a voucher to automatically activate the client and e-mail a pre-configured connection file. Exported connections can also be locked and encrypted for additional security to prevent unauthorized editing of connections.

Equinux says that improvements made to to the IPSec Engine allow VPN Tracker 5 to establish a secure IPSec tunnel much more quickly -- about one-third of the time it took previously. In addition, multiple VPN connections can be started and stopped independently.

Version 5 also supports the latest security technologies, such as SmartCards, PKI Tokens and can securely store all passwords and Preshared Keys in the Mac OS X Keychain.

VPN Tracker 5 is available in 3 versions:

VPN Tracker Player ($80) simply connects to VPN connections that have been created and exported by VPN Tracker 5 Professional. VPN Tracker Player is the prefect extension to VPN Tracker Professional in large scale installations, and provides system administrators with an easy way to manage and tweak the user's access to the VPN settings on mobile workstations.

VPN Tracker 5 is immediately available from equinux, while a boxed version will soon be available at Apple resellers, on Amazon with prices starting at $80 (€70). License owners of previous versions can upgrade for a discount. VPN Tracker 5 requires Mac OS X 10.4.x or Mac OS X 10.5 or higher and runs as a Universal Binary on PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs.