Virtual Private Networks are simply a means of creating a private and secure wide area network based on public network infrastructures. A company can create its own VPN using the Internet or by buying VPN services from a provider. It’s difficult to write a static book on a moving target. Fowler addresses this problem by dealing heavily in concepts, benefits and standards, while spending less time on specific VPN technology solutions.
The book begins, sensibly, by considering VPN cost savings over traditional WAN solutions. These range from 20 per cent to 80 per cent depending on the activity. Many company decision makers won’t reach chapter two. At this point, Fowler’s book is likely to find its way down through company ranks to those who deal with people-based networking issues and costs and planning people, until it finally ends up on the desk of a hands-on system manager. In fact, the book appears to be structured with this very sequence in mind.
Virtual Private Networks is short enough (under 200 pages) to be read in a weekend. But its broad approach will ensure that managers will come away sufficiently informed to make a valid decision about the place of VPNs in their enterprise. –Steve Patient
From the Back Cover
“Dennis Fowler provides an insightful view to both the business benefits and technical requirements to VPNs. His examples of other customers’ experiences with VPNs breathe life into the discussion.”
From the Foreword by Susan Scheer Aoko, Cisco systems, Inc.
Network-dependent companies are excited by the benefits promised by the virtual private network, including lower costs, greater flexibility, and improvements in connectivity. But they also have questions: What benefits are real? How can they be measured? What are the expenses and the dangers?
Virtual Private Networks: Making the Right Connection is an intelligent introduction written especially for business and IT professionals who want a realistic assessment of what a VPN can provide for their organizations. Covering advantages and risks, this book expands your understanding of what you can do with a VPN, while detailing all that implementing it will demand of you. With its help, you’ll find your way through VPN hype to the answers you need to make sound decisions.
Features
- Thoroughly explains VPN concepts and technologies, and examines the potential of VPNs as intranets, extranets, and remote access solutions.
- Covers essential VPN topics like tunneling, encapsulation, encryption, security, and protocols.
- Provides detailed points of comparison between typical VPN costs and the costs of maintaining traditional WANs.
- Offers frank consideration of the hidden costs and risks sometimes associated with VPNs, helping you decide if a VPN is right for you.
- Lists and assesses the software and hardware products you may need to implement a VPN.
- Discusses both Internet-based VPNs and VPN services offered by providers of “private” ATM and frame relay networks, detailing the pros and cons of each.
About the Author
Dennis Fowler is a columnist for ACM netWorker Magazine, a founding member of both the Association of Online Professionals and the Internet Press Guild, and a former contributing editor with Computer Shopper magazine. He is particularly interested in the practical application of online technologies-and the Internet in particular-to create new opportunities for commerce and enhance global communication.
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