Founded in 1998 and headquartered in California, RapidStream is a company dedicated to providing secure VPN solutions on both the hardware and software sides of computing. With nine patents pending for acceleration technology, the company says it can offer VPN and security products that outperform other platforms with VPN components.

RapidStream offers VPN products on all three levels: hardware, client software, and network management. What makes RapidStream different from its competitors is that rather than just specialize in VPNs, the company instead has created an integrated product line, which covers not only VPNs and firewalls, but also NAT resolution and QoS.

The VPN hardware consists of a series of combination firewall/VPN gateways. There are a variety of different models, with the higher number models, such as the RapidStream 8000, for larger businesses and enterprises, and the lower number models, such as the RapidStream 500, targeted at smaller businesses. All support multiple VPN connections, contain a firewall, and come with software management tools.

The primary management tool is the RapidStream Centralized Policy Management (CPM) System. This is a piece of software that allows the user to manage the entire network, from the firewall to the VPN tunnels to the network address resolution.

The client software, the RapidStream VPN Client 5.0, is Windows-based, compatible with any platform later than Windows 95. It uses pre-shared keys or X.509 digital certificates for encryption.

Although the company's products are sold through resellers and partner channels, RapidStream can be contacted via email at [email protected] or by telephone at 1-866-727-4348. Additional contact information can be found on the company web site.