A more accurate assessment of the status of network-based VPN services

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: TIM GREENE ON VPNS
07/21/05
Today's focus: A more accurate assessment of the status of
network-based VPN services

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Are top telecom buyers really that ignorant of carriers' IP
  VPN services?
* Links related to VPNs
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Avocent
Network World Executive Guide: Security Evolves. Automation,
specialized 'ops centers' and more.

For network security professionals, keeping a safe distance
ahead of the worst the bad guys have to offer is a never-ending
race. This guide is designed to help with a collection of news,
analysis and product test reviews for practical how-to advice on
subjects ranging from patch management and spyware to promises
and risks of automated security services.
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Today's focus: A more accurate assessment of the status of
network-based VPN services

By Tim Greene

In a newsletter last month, we looked at a study by a financial
firm that said the largest businesses are still ducking IP VPN
services because they don't want to subject their networks to a
best-effort service.

A link to that newsletter is here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlvpn3560>

We questioned whether presumably well-informed telecom
decision-makers at the Fortune 500 firms that took part in the
study could be so ignorant of the QoS offerings from major and
minor carriers that offer network-based VPN services, and some
readers agreed. One reader raised the excellent point that if
this were the case, then these executives would have somehow
missed a major shift in network services offered by carriers.

In an effort to wean customers away from traditional network
services such as frame relay and ATM, carriers have been touting
their MPLS VPN services that allow customers to keep their frame
and ATM access lines but still have sites served by them become
nodes on a VPN.

The whole point of this for service providers is to streamline
their networks by converging all types of services onto a single
network. Primarily this means diverting voice traffic to an IP
backbone. Voice must have QoS and this is what service providers
are engineering their networks for.

Service providers are steaming ahead with further enhancements
to their current IP VPN services, so it seems likely that the
earlier pessimistic report drew from a sample that wasn't
representative. (IP VPN service enhancements are coming within
the next month from both Verizon and AT&T. Stay tuned.)

One credible reader, who researches corporate network services
buying, said this: "I can assure you that very major
corporations are moving to IP VPNs for critical applications.
Not all corporations, and not all applications, but that would
be true of any technology shift." That is probably a more
accurate assessment of the status of network-based VPN services.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Future-proof your network
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlvpn3561>

2. Appliances replace DNS, DHCP software
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlvpn3562>

3. Microsoft sues Google, former employee over hiring
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlvpn3563>

4. The ROI of VoIP
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlvpn3564>

5. Investors target systems management
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlvpn3565>

Today's most forwarded story:

Investors target systems management
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlvpn3565>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Tim Greene

Tim Greene is a senior editor at Network World, covering virtual
private networking gear, remote access, core switching and local
phone companies. You can reach him at <mailto:tgreene@nww.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Avocent
Network World Executive Guide: Security Evolves. Automation,
specialized 'ops centers' and more.

For network security professionals, keeping a safe distance
ahead of the worst the bad guys have to offer is a never-ending
race. This guide is designed to help with a collection of news,
analysis and product test reviews for practical how-to advice on
subjects ranging from patch management and spyware to promises
and risks of automated security services.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108582
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Breaking VPN news from Network World, updated daily:
http://www.networkworld.com/topics/firewalls.html

Archive of the VPN newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/vpn/index.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE
THE NEW DATA CENTER: SPOTLIGHT ON STORAGE

This Network World report takes a look at storage trends such as
virtualization, encryption and archiving. Here you will also
find seven tips for managing storage in the new data center, how
storage encryption can help ease the threat of identity theft,
why one exec believes its all about the information and more.
Click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/supp/2005/ndc4/>
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