What is a VPN?
A VPN is a process that allows the use of the Internet to create an extension of your private local area network to one or more remote locations such as your home or another branch office.

One example is a remote computer or server and a subscriber of an Internet service where IP connectivity is established immediately after the user's computer is turned on. The VPN creates a private tunnel through the internet and connects to a VPN-enabled remote access computer or server.

After authentication, the user can access the corporate network achieving the same functionality as he or she was present at the office.

Why do Companies use VPN?
Using a VPN can have a major impact on a company by increasing sales, product development can be accelerated, and strategic partnerships can be strengthened.

Virtual private networking has become more of a necessity than a luxury for business users who need a way to access files on an office network when they're on the road, working from home or otherwise physically separated from the network. Of course, they could dial in directly to a remote access server, but that solution has a couple of significant drawbacks:

• If your remote location is not in the same calling area as the remote access server, you'll have to pay long distance charges – and those can add up fast if you need to spend much time connected to the network.
• The remote access server will need multiple phone lines and modems in order to accommodate more than one incoming connection at a time – that cost, too, can add up if many.

The solution, of course, is a VPN connection. If the remote computer has Internet connectivity (via modem, broadband or through a LAN) and the office network has a permanent connection to the Internet such as T-1 or business-class broadband, the most cost effective way for remote users to connect is by tunneling through the public network. VPN technologies use tunneling protocols to create the connection and encryption protocols to provide the “ private ” part, allowing you to securely access a VPN server on the company network and through it (if the VPN server is set up to allow it), other computers on the company LAN.

Corporate Use of VPN's
In the past many companies required their staff to use a modem to connect directly to the corporate network. VPN's potentially offer international business traveller's significant cost savings compared to dial up charges. Inter-touch's compliance with the most commonly used corporate VPN's will allow access to the existing VPN corporate segment, representing between 20 and 40% of travelling guests.

This segment is also expanding rapidly as more and more companies are evaluating VPN's for use in several different environments: remote and mobile computing, WAN replacement and extranet connectivity. In the USA more than 85% of companies are expected to adopt VPN's for at least some segments of their remote access users by 2005 (source: Gartner Group).

Virtual private networking is often the best and most cost effective way to provide remote access to your company network. So the question today is not whether to use VPN technology, but which VPN technology to use. CompuNetWorld has deployed many Virtual Private Networking solutions, reducing annual communications costs for many companies by thousands of dollars. With a wide range of security products at our disposal, CompuNetWorld can design the correct solution for your business.