Factors Influencing Company Use of Virtual Private Networks - Dissertation Example

Topic: Investigating Factors Influencing Company Use of Virtual Private Networks Over Wide Area Networks by Decision-making Network Managers. Abstract This paper will explore why a great number of companies/institutions have recently opted for the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). VPNs would be compared with the Wide Area Networks (WAN)s, to show that VPNs have some added advantages that make them more efficient than WANs. The cogent factors influencing the choice of VPNs over WANs as companies work hard to make their operations effective would be presented. The bulk of facts highlighted in the paper would be from qualitative research methodology, where by a survey is carried out by giving questionnaires to Network Administrators, Network Managers, Executives and all those involved in Network Technology decision-making in a university in order to discover how the benefits of VPNs outweigh that of other networks. Helpful conclusions and recommendations would be offered at the end of the report. Introduction Nowadays, decision-making networks managers may have decided to go for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) because of the current changes in the Information Technologies (Its) in improving organizational communication channels that must be smooth, reliable and efficient (Rapp 2002, p. 21). Wide Area Networks (WAN) was first accepted as a solution to the companies’ determination to communicate in a more secure environment, whether locally or internationally (Argenti & Forman 2002,pp.2-4 ). However, the cost of implementing WANs and the speed of data transmission is relatively slower and less secure. Therefore, companies had looked for another way to improve their communication transfer with reliable security using VPNs ( Tan 2003,p. 419; Cisco Systems 2004, pp.233-235). Statement of the Problem This paper would highlight some great technical factors why decision-making networks managers prefer Virtual Private Networks (VPN) over Wide Area Networks (WANs). What are these discretionary factors? Do they contribute to the overall managerial accountability of the concerned organizations? Would these factors help the companies produce high quality goods/services through efficient communication networks among their organizations’ departments? This report would be useful for decision-making by a group of experts including Networks Administrators, Network Managers, Executives and most importantly the all the people involved in the Network Technology decision-making in the Universities. The main point here is that better communication networks will result in better organizational management, which is true for all categories of industries. Literature Review In order to fully understand why Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are taking over WANs, this study will analyse the evolution of WAN and its functionalities. Initially, the Local Area Networks (LANs) were developed in the 1980s to provide public Internet services for the primary users in the towns and villages. LANs, in its simplest forms, can serve a small geographical area of communication. Though cheap and fast, its small areas of coverage made it inapplicable for wider reachability required by big businesses as they transmit data and voice from one geographic location to the other (Muller 2003, pp. 2-15). This study will explore why Wide Area Networks (WANs) were recognized as the immediate solutions most organizations found helpful to their cause of reaching out to their subsidiaries located far away from their headquarters (Groth & Skandier 2005, pp. 3-5). Some of the great advantages of WANs over LANs include: Accessibility: WANs have greater accessibility to areas far from the point of data generation. For example, a company in U.K may use WAN to connect with its branch in India. Connectivity: WANs could be connected only on demand or they may be permanently connected. This indicates that when not in use, WANs could be disconnected. Network Transports: WANs can use either public or private network transports, while LANs could only use private network transports. Duplex Communication: WANs use full duplex communication while LANs only use half-duplex communication. This project would show that why the attributes of WANs highlighted above seemed quite encouraging, but the latest demands for corporate re-engineering, which lays emphasis on cost-efficiency calls for more pragmatic approaches to communication within an organization (Bates & Gregory 2001, pp. 88-90). And Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) appear to be the answer to effective communications the corporate players have been looking for (Whitman & Mattord 2007, pp.278-280). And some of the Virtual Private Networks’ set of peculiar characteristics include: * High-level Security: VPNs offer increased security that is not available in WANs. This is due to the fact that VPNs utilize many modern security programs to protect the corporate users from being exposed to both internal and external attacks. Why many organizations flock to use VPNs is because it provides protection especially for data and connection by using the network of security components, which include Firewalls, Encryption, Internet Protocol Security Protocol (IPSec) and Authentication Authorization Accounting (A A A) Servers (Tiller 2001, pp. 119-123; McNab 2007, pp.261-263). Reliability: Virtual Private Networks are reliable and efficient. Its main strength lies in its ability to improve its productivity. Its network topology is so simplified that it could be used by people who are not computer experts (Rybaczyk 2004, p.122) Scalability: Virtual Private Networks enjoy extensive geographic connection. And VPNs provide telecommuter support, which makes communication smooth and efficient (Kenyon 2002, pp.381-388). Network Management: Virtual Private Networks are known to provide global networking opportunities. This indicates that users from any part of the globe could be connected and engage in meaningful communication exchange. VPNs also offer broadband networking compatibility: this entails that these systems are compatible with the other communications networks. Policy Management: Most policy-makers in organizations prefer to use VPNs because of some cost-efficiency benefits they could derive from the networks. These include the reduction in operational costs when compared with the amount of money networks managers spend on WANs; there is also reduction in transit time and the transportation costs for remote users; and it has been recorded that there is faster Return on Investment (ROI) than the traditional WANs (Strassner 2004, pp.370-374) Cost-efficiency: It is also interesting to note that the VPN technologies are cheap and readily available for implementation, Even a small company can establish the most advanced form of Virtual Private Networks without actually making a lot of infrastructural investment. And the processes of installation is as well simple and straightforward: it doesn’t require incomprehensible programming or difficult network connectivity. Big companies are able to multiply the number of their VPNs due to this factor of inexpensiveness (Obaidat & Boudriga 2007, p.227) Technical Compatibility: Essentially, VPNs are connected to the Internet through LANs. This shows that the networks can readily work in conjunction with other components. This is a great advantage for the companies that use VPNs which already had in place other networks connections. This signify that they don’t actually need to discard their previous systems in order to acquire VPNs. They could, in fact, make use of the pre-existing networks in their communication channels (Choudhury et al. 2002, pp. 15-17). Another important feature of Virtual Private Networks that this paper would outline is that it possesses two main technical outlets, which any company can choose from. These two forms, based on varied technicalities, are common in the business world and networks managers are free to choose the one appropriate for their kinds of business activities (Maiwald 2003, pp. 233-260). 1. Remote-Access VPN: This is also called the Virtual Private Dial-Up Network (VPDN). It is a user-to-LAN connected used by an organization whose employees have to connect to the private networks from different remote locations. For example, a company that has up to a thousand sales people may want to use VPDN to reach all its employees by updating them quickly about the latest product information and sales strategy. Remote-Access VPN allows secure, encrypted connections between a company’s private network and remote users through a third-party service provider (Reddy 2005, p. 12) 2. Site-to-site VPN: By using dedicated equipment and expansive encryption, an organization can connect multiple fixed sites over a public network, such as Internet. There are two kinds of site-to-site VPN (Shinder et al. 2007,p.828) Intranet-based: If an organization has one or more remote locations that they hope to combine in a single private network, they can establish an Intranet VPN to connect LAN to LAN. Extranet-based: This allow many organizations to work cooperatively in a shared environment. For example, if company A has a close relationship with Company B (and other companies, partners, suppliers or customers), they can create an extranet VPN that connects LAN to LAN. This literature review would highlight some problems that may arise in the processes of implementing VPNs: These problems include the choice of appropriate VPN architecture; how to maintain confidentiality in the course of data transfer from one source to the other with the use of appropriate public key cryptography; security concerns and data integrity by using Message-Authenticated codes, digital signatures and one-way hash functions. To maintain that VPNs remain standardized, it is important that organizations should make it a duty to constantly troubleshoot in the form of MPLS-VPN Network. MPLS-VPN stands for Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) used to create VPN networks. Methodology This project is going to be a qualitatively researched one: Designed questionnaires would be distributed to some experts on Network Technology. This group of experts include Networks Administrators, Network Managers, Executives and most importantly the all the people involved in the Network Technology decision-making in a University. The draft of the questionnaires would contain questions about the advantages of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) over the other kinds of networks; how are they implemented? What processes are better? And are there any problems arising from the implementation of these networks (VPNs)? The demerits of qualitative research methodology involve the inclusion of human errors or misjudgment into the overall data collected and the absence of preceding research results within the University environment may raise the standard of the expected outcomes of this research. Only qualified respondents would be targeted to assure that the quality of the information provided is guaranteed. Purpose of Study The purpose of this study would be to highlight some sterling characteristics of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) over other network systems, with the view to outlining the irresistible factors that encourage decision-making Networks Managers to choose VPNs over the other networks. As indicated in this proposal, the long-term merits/advantages VPNs have will be presented in clear language, and including the explanation of the benefits accruable to the organizations implementing VPNs. This comparison below between WANs and VPNs is one of the probable project outcomes: The graphical explanations presented below convincingly reveal that Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) possess some better advantages when compared with WANs. This is a summary of the differences in the usefulness of WANs and VPNs (Strebe 2004, pp. 96-99). WANs VPNs Cost: More Expensive Less Expensive Connectivity: More difficult to establish; Easy to establish; as long It may take 2 months there is an Internet Security Less secure More secure Speed Slow Fast Considering the above-listed merits, it is possible for decision-making networks managers to prefer Virtual Private Networks to WANs. Every organization now emphasizes on the ability to cut costs while maximizing their profit potentials at the same time. Low-cost of installation, easy connectivity, fastness and other qualities would help businesses that adopt the use of VPNs to succeed (Kolesnikov & Hatch 2002, pp. 21-25). The second outcome of the project is to expatiate on the long-term benefits of using Virtual Private Networks while elaborately describing the technologies involved in its implementation. In the course of this project, it would be possible to estimate the implementation cost, conditions for implementation and developmental procedures required to keep VPNs operational in any workplace environment, bearing in mind the diversity in workplace situations. Assumptions and Limitations of Study For this project, the responders to the questionnaires would be qualified individuals who are well versed in every matter concerning Networks Technology. However, as expected of all qualitative research methodology, it may be difficult to authenticate any instances of over-declarations. The limitations of this study would be in the areas of separating facts from fiction, and removing human errors due to inaccurate statistics presented by the responders. However, serious attempts would be made on reducing these kinds of errors as only qualified or experts in networks technologies and networks administration would be interviewed. Conclusions This project would be a vital tool for Networks managers and administrators who are mainly interested in the re-engineering their communication network by implementing Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). For the fact that the cost of implementing and utilization of VPNs is quite considerable, more organizations would definitely switch their networks into VPNs, bearing in mind its great efficiency. In the light of the above explanations, it would be great if this proposal is accepted in order to unearth vital information through the project that may be helpful to improving the quality of organizational performance and accountability. References Argenti, PA & Forman, J 2002, The Power of Corporate Communication: Crafting the Voice and Image of Your Business, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. Bates, RJ & Gregory DW 2001, Voice and Data Communications Handbook, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. Cisco Systems Inc., 2004, Internetworking Technologies Handbook, Cisco Press, Indianapolis, Indiana. Choudhury, S, Bhatnagar, K & Haque, W 2002, Public Key Infrastructure: Implementation and Design, John Wiley and Sons, London. Groth, B & Skandier T 2005, Network + Study Guide, John Wiley and Sons, London. Kenyon, T 2002, Data Networks: Routing, Security, and Performance Optimization, Digital Press, Pennsylvania, USA. Kolesnikov, O & Hatch B 2002, Building Linux Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Sams Publishing, Ontario, Canada. Maiwald, E 2003, Network Security:A Beginner’s Guide, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. McNab, C 2007, Network Security Assessment: Know Your Network, O’Reilly Media, Inc., Sebastopol, CA. Mueller, NJ 2003, LANs to WANs: the Complete Management Guide, Artech House, Norwood, Massachusetts. Obaidat, MS & Boudriga, N 2007, Security of E-Systems and Computer Networks, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; New York. Rapp, WV 2002, Information Technology Strategies: How Leading Firms Use IT to Gain an Advantange, Oxford University Press US, New York. Reddy, K 2005, Building MPLS-Based Broadband Access VPNs, Cisco Press, Indianapolis, Indiana. Rybaczyk, P 2004, Cisco Network Design Solutions for Small-Medium Businesses, Cisco Press, Indianapolis, Indiana. Shinder, TW, Behrens, T, Browne, B, Cameron, R, Bonnell, R & Desmeules, S 2007, The Best Dawn Firewall Book Period, Syngress Publishing, Burlington, Massachusetts. Strassner, JS 2004, Policy-based Network Management: Solutions for the Next Generation, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA. Strebe, M 2004, Network Security Foundations, John Wiley and Sons, London. Tan, NK 2003, Building VPNs: with IPSec and MPLS, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. Tiller, JS 2001, A Technical Guide to IPSec Virtual Private Networks, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. Whitman, ME & Mattord, HJ 2007, Principles of Information Security, Cengage Learning EMEA, Florence, Kentuky. Read More