VPN

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It is "Virtual" because it enables you to establish what appears to be a normal Wide Area Network connection between two separate locations but in reality is a secure tunnel over the Internet. To make the tunnel secure over the Internet, encryption and authentication is used. VPN is widely used to connect remote offices (Site-to-Site VPN) as well as a way for remote access to organizations network for individual users from outside the office (Remote Access VPN).

There are many routers/firewalls with VPN feature, such as Cisco ISR series. For Site-to-Site VPN, such VPN supported device needs at each location. For remote Access VPN, typically VPN client software needs to be installed on mobile computers. SSL-VPN for remote access does not require special software on client but just Web browser/email client with SSL support. This is a good solution for Office to Office or Home to Office or Mobile user to Office for secure connections. METHOD IT recommends Cisco for this solution as it has many software clients platforms it can run on. We also have setup and supported SonicWALL, WatchGuard and many other VPN solutions.

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