Easy-Connect is simple to set up because both halves authenticate to, and connect through, a secure middle-point server that acts as a data exchange.

The core advantage of the secure middle approach is that installation at both server and client ends becomes "load and go."

If you think about your PC, you will realize that you can get out to the Internet very easily. Whether you are sitting behind a dial-up line with its floating IP number, or ADSL or Cable similarly configured, you just connect. Similarly, if you have several people in your business and they share the connection through a NAT proxy firewall router, things just "work."

Conversely, if you want to make a server directly accessible, you have to put in dedicated routes, and an extremely secure firewall system.

The reason the first is simple, and the second complex and expensive, is because of the nature of the connection being made. In the case of client access, security is presumed because only outbound connections are being made. Trust of employees is presumed (in most cases). In the second case, people have to be able to find you to connect to you, and you don't know who is connecting, or their purpose. Therefore, you have to go to extraordinary lengths to make yourself visible on the one hand, and to protect yourself against entry by anyone other than those you specifically want to enter.

The secure middle principal lets both client and server connect outbound as clients to a secure server in the middle. This means that both ends can connect using standard low cost client grade connectivity, and can connect in minutes using standard protocols.