Base standards stabilized. Testing against reference implementations improved interoperability. Software kinks were resolved with time and field experience. Today's IPsec clients are not bullet proof, but compatibility issues are declining. This study predicted that process and procedural issues would continue to grow in importance as VPNs become more integrated into network infrastructures.
More robust software is one more nibble into the technical support cost cookie.
Streamlined client installation and update is another. Today's IPsec clients require fewer parameters. Through smart defaults, canned policies, and automated policy updating, client installation has become easier and less error-prone. Let's consider a few examples. Centralized control, simple authentication, and topology assumptions greatly simplify client configuration, but at the cost of flexibility.