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Remote computing: Plug and work
For corporations with far-flung workforces, virtual private networks are one of the great boons of Internet technology.
May 2003
Institutional Investor
Magazine
Thanks to VPNs, branch employees, traveling salespeople and even customers with the proper authorization can communicate and share data as if they were all on terminals at headquarters.
VPNs, which are sections of the public network that are walled off for private use, exploded in the 1990s as companies sought a faster, more secure alternative to dial-up computer connections. But VPNs may soon look as clunky and costly as the systems they replaced.
The latest advance, emerging over the past year from upstart companies like Neoteris and SafeWeb, as well as established players like Check Point Software Technologies and Nortel Networks, is the virtual VPN. It offers all the functionality and security of a customized VPN but is no more difficult to connect to than, say, an AOL account. In technical jargon it's an SSL VPN -- SSL stands...