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Interoperability and support for dial-up and LAN-to-LAN connections also are a consideration.
Network managers are becoming increasingly interested in the idea of using a public network such as the Internet in place of private lines to transport internal corporate data such as intranet documents, groupware communications and E-mail.
Quite simply, this type of virtual private networking (VPN) provides a relatively inexpensive way to connect telecommuters, mobile workers and remote sites to a home office LAN.
By using the Internet to transport data, companies can save up to 50% of the cost of operating a traditional leased private network, according to a 1996 U.S. computer study commissioned by Sun Microsystems, Inc.
While interest in VPN is growing, actual deployment is low. This is because VPN technologies are relatively immature, and many network managers don't understand how these networks should work.
Security is first and foremost among the important design issues for VPN. Private data that is transmitted over the Internet must be protected in order to keep it from being interfered with or intercepted.
Three types of data security come into play for VPN: encryption, which is the function of scrambling data so only the intended receiver can...