VPlus Networks –Managed Service Specialists

VPlus Networks provide fully managed Virtual Private Network (VPN) services which effectively, economically and securely give your users remote access to your IT systems. In addition our managed ‘WAN plus’ service can link your remote offices with reliable high performance networks within your budget.

Managed - VPlus offers a truly managed service with dedicated engineers and support desks dealing pro-actively with problems and issues as they arise, managing your user support problems for you. We provide regular account review meetings as well as bespoke reporting and improvement consultancy as part of our managed service.

Secure - We employ IPSec, SSL and 2 factor authentication technologies to ensure that our networks are inherently more secure then traditional fixed networks. In addition, the VPlus monitoring suite allows us to ensure that only your people have the right level of access to your systems and data. The security reports contain any attempts to penetrate security.

Flexible - Our Oe-office everywhere service gives your people access to the IT systems they need using one of our ISP partners or any existing Internet connections such as ADSL, 3G and wireless. This access can be given from any location such as customer premises, homes and even on the bus! Our service means we can add and remove users in hours and commission new office or extranet connections in as little as one week.

Cost Effective - Managed secure remote access allows you to realise productivity and cost reduction benefits from flexible and remote working. With our VPN technology, you can safely harness the power of the Internet and avoid the expense of traditional networks.

Service - We provide Service Level Agreements that are bespoke to your business requirements which can be underpinned with service credits thereby minimising your risk.

Virtual Private Networks

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) what types are there, and what are their relative advantages and disadvantages?

Despite the large (and rapidly expanding) number of Virtual Private Networking products, all fall into three broad categories: hardware-based systems, firewall-based VPNs and standalone VPN application packages.

Most hardware-based VPN systems are encrypting routers. They are secure and easy to use, since they provide the nearest thing to "plug and play" encryption equipment available. They provide the highest network throughput of all VPN systems, since they don't waste processor overhead in running an operating system or other applications. However, they may not be as flexible as software based systems. The best hardware VPN packages offer software-only clients for remote installation, and incorporate some of the access control features more traditionally managed by firewalls or other perimeter security devices.

Firewall-based VPNs take advantage of the firewall's security mechanisms, including restricting access to the internal network. They also perform address translation; satisfy requirements for strong authentication; and serve up real-time alarms and extensive logging. Most commercial firewalls also "harden" the host operating system kernel by stripping out dangerous or unnecessary services, providing additional security for the VPN server. OS protection is a major plus, since very few VPN application vendors supply guidance on OS security. Performance may be a concern, especially if the firewall is already loaded -- however, some firewall vendors offer hardware-based encryption processors to minimize the impact of VPN management on the system.

Software-based Virtual Private Networks are ideal in situations where both endpoints of the VPN are not controlled by the same organization (typical for client support requirements or business partnerships), or when different firewalls and routers are implemented within the same organization. At the moment, standalone VPNs offer the most flexibility in how network traffic is managed. Many software-based products allow traffic to be tunneled based on address or protocol, unlike hardware-based products, which generally tunnel all traffic they handle, regardless of protocol. Tunneling specific traffic types is advantageous in situations where remote sites may see a mix of traffic --some that needs transport over a VPN (such as entries to a database at headquarters) and some that doesn't (such as Web surfing). In situations where performance requirements are modest (such as users connecting over dial-up links), software-based VPNs may be the best choice.

Managed VPN services - Software-based systems are generally harder to manage than encrypting routers. They require familiarity with the host operating system, the application itself, and appropriate security mechanisms. And some software packages require changes to routing tables and network addressing schemes.

Be aware that as the VPN market evolves, the distinctions between VPN architectures are becoming less clearly defined. Some hardware vendors have added software clients to their product offerings, and extended their server capabilities to include some of the security features more "traditionally" offered by software or firewall-based VPNs. A few stand-alone products have added support for hardware-based encryptors to improve their performance. And for all types of VPNs, further implementation of the proposed IPSec protocol is making it easier (tho' not trivial) to mix and match products. So bear in mind that these categories are becoming less meaningful as time goes on.