VPN Technology

Innovative VPN Technology That Ensures Private Communication

VPN is a technology that overlays communications networks and gives them the security and manageability required by business. Through VPN technology, network managers can set up secure relationships, automated connections, authorizations, and encryption, while still enjoying the low cost and availability of the Internet.

VPNs protect data while in transit across the Internet, or within a company’s enclave. The VPN has many capabilities yet the primary functions are:

	Keep data confidential (encryption)
	Ensure the identities of two parties communicating (authentication)
	Safeguard the identities of communicating parties (tunneling)
	Ensure data is accurate and in its original form (nonrepudiation)
	Guard against packets being sent over and over (replay prevention)

While many VPN formats exist, only one appears to have the full backing of the IETF, OS developers, and major networking vendors. The above features are components in the IP Security Protocol (IPSec) Standard. Evidence of its adoption appears in the IP Version 6 specification and in its own RFCs.

VPNs have wide applicability. In business application, the heaviest usage for VPN technology today is to address three primary needs:

Remote Access Service Businesses with growing numbers of remote access users, such as a mobile workforce or work-at-home employees, often have powerful incentives for employing VPN technology. Improved Network Security The security of frame relay, ISDN, and other outsourced network services is not  considered adequate by many organizations. Rather than depend on a third party, organizations may want to take control of their security by using VPN technology. Extranet Service Business partner networks or extranets have become the basis for supply chain automation and may other competitive business solutions. VPN technology can support extranet applications with immediate connectivity at a very low cost.

Network managers and planners face several hurdles in VPN implementation. They must decide where VPNs will be used and does the size of the solution cost effectively fit the requirements of the location. In other words, how do you build a scalable VPN such as the illustration below?

IPSec VPN Network

VPN creates a private means for communications between geographically distributed locations

  SonicWALL VPN Products

SonicWALL VPN products allow for a cost-effective, easy-to-manage remote access solution for small, medium and large enterprises. Today's distributed enterprise requires a complete security system that protects remote office and worker sites with the same enterprise-class security found at the main entrances of the network but without the high cost and complexity of these security solutions, which have excluded their deployment to these locations. Without a robust security network for all remote sites, not only do these sites place their own data and applications availability at risk, they also provide an unguarded "back door" into the fortified headquarters network.