Survey: Top user companies say IP VPN services are unreliable

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: TIM GREENE ON VPNS
07/05/05
Today's focus: Survey: Top user companies say IP VPN services
are unreliable

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Study finds biggest corps are reluctant to use IP VPN services
* Links related to VPNs
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Survey: Top user companies say IP VPN services
are unreliable

By Tim Greene

A study released last week by a financial firm found that the
people buying telecom services for the biggest corporations are
reluctant to use IP VPN services because such technologies rely
on best-effort Internet services and are susceptible to attacks.

The authors, who interviewed 27 Fortune 500 executives who make
decisions about what WAN services to buy, say the respondents
find IP services "to be less reliable than circuit-switched
alternatives. In addition, security is perceived to be
compromised because of the shared nature of IP networks, which
are subject to viruses and other forms of attack."

The study was by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., and said the
executives interviewed felt IP VPNs were less reliable and less
secure than frame relay and ATM, "partly from experience and
partly due to the instinctive association of any IP-based
technology with the 'best efforts,' shared nature of the IP
protocol."

These are pretty surprising responses, given that the perceived
drawbacks have been acknowledged and addressed by many service
providers to the point that service-level agreements on uptime,
packet loss, latency and QoS in general are readily available.
Even more surprising, considering the answers were given by
people holding down responsible jobs in the largest businesses
and who are expected to be tech-savvy.

Layer 2 MPLS VPNs are widely regarded as secure as any other
Layer 2 services such as frame relay and ATM, and by no means
have to be best effort. And most major U.S. carriers that offer
MPLS VPN services integrate MPLS-connected sites with existing
frame relay and ATM networks, so customers don't have to alter
their entire WAN to adopt and IP service.

While these findings may raise some eyebrows, the study also
points out that most of the businesses interviewed are using
VPNs to some extent already and plan to do so more widely as
time goes by. So whatever the negative impressions, they don't
seem strong enough to keep customers away.

The bottom line here is a message to service providers. They
need to make a bigger effort to overcome the negative
impressions if they want to customers to adopt their IP services
more quickly.

But perhaps they don't. After all, the IP networks are
relatively new and might not be able to stand a wholesale shift
from frame relay and ATM. Gradual change may be what carriers
desire.
_______________________________________________________________
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>.
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This newsletter is sponsored by Good Technology
Wireless Mobility Special Report

Wireless mobility is always changing. Managing this change on a
corporate level requires both a technical understanding and
managerial control. Are security, integration, optimization,
and support considered? Download this report now to gain
important information for both technical and business decision
maker's on how to manage wireless mobility technology from the
top down. Click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=107779
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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
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