The Cisco VPN 3002 Hardware Client is a small hardware appliance that operates as a client in Virtual Private Networking (VPN) environments. It combines the best features of a software client, including scalability and easy deployment, with the stability and independence of a hardware platform.One of the major advantages of the Cisco VPN 3002 is easy implementation. It has few local setup parameters and includes troubleshooting aids to ensure proper operation. Additional parameters and policy are "pushed" to the device from a central site after the unit has been set up.In addition, the Cisco VPN 3002 scales easily to tens of thousands of devices. This is because as a client it can receive concentrator-assigned IP addresses from a pool, rather than end-to-end statically assigned addresses, which are required for LAN-to-LAN devices. The Cisco VPN 3002 can also coexist with, or work independently of, the software client typically used on MS-DOS or Windows, and NT-based PCs/workstations. This increases the number of operating system environments where VPN clients can be used.