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.

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 co-exist 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.