This is a guest post by Elisabeta Ghidiu.
VPNs are a common subject these days and they are being used both by home users and companies. From a company point of view, when we think of a Virtual Private Network we think of an intelligent tunnel that encrypts data at the IP level and send the information from one network to another over a public TCP/IP network.
Like any other service, VPN technology has been developed based on customers’ needs. Companies crave for network security and remote access and that’s why VPNs were implemented. But more then network security other advantages of VPN usage are cost saving and scalability.
- Remote access. Remote access is an important reason why companies are using VPNs. This is a great advantage for everyone who needs to access data or to share files remotely while they are traveling or while they are out of the office.
- Enhanced security. Referring to remote access, people might ask if this is not dangerous or sensitive for the network. If users can access the network remotely than the network might become an interest point for hackers and malware. Well, that’s not really true because VPN provides advanced data encryption. All the information sent from and to another source is secured and encrypted. Only the sender and the receiver know how to decrypt and read the information.
- Cost saving. If a large corporation, with offices all over the world, implements a VPN service, this could save their cost from 30% to 80%. Once the VPN is created, the maintenance costs are also very low and the service providers will take care of the network setups and functionality.
- Network scalability. Common networks require leased lines in order to connect to different location. This happens when the company has more offices. If there are new offices added there will be a request for increased leased lines, in order to create a dedicated line between these locations. But a VPN service accepts simultaneous sessions and more users can be added without making important changes to the system at no cost.
What is important to remember is that when a company implements VPN service, there must be done a detailed analysis and see which type of VPN better suits the company and which is the best provider that can offer you the service.
Elisabeta Ghidiu is an Internet marketer and advocate blogger, writing about productivity and technology on Cyclope-Series – Let’s talk about productivity – a manager-oriented blog.
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Very nice topic and well explained, this leads to consideration of another technology that wraps all the VPNs possible in a service provider networking offering VPNs when using MPLS VPNs (Multiprotocol Label Switching ) with the capability of integrating legacy technologies into a new fashion.
Well done