Thinking Outside the Box for Branch Office Connectivity

Bolstering Security
According to the SearchNetworking.com survey, security is the second biggest overall challenge–and the number one upgrade consideration on the table–for managing remote offices.

That's why the iPass Branch Office solution includes measures to help protect network links and the devices connecting to them. For authentication and access control, iPass leverages industry-standard IPSec with 3DES or AES encryption. To help keep links secure, iPass installs industry-standard managed service units (MSUs) at each remote site. MSUs include firewalls, VPN termination and other connection management capabilities to handle threat management. Weekly firewall TCP/UDP port scanning adds another layer of security.

As you likely know, unmanaged endpoint devices can quickly become vulnerable to security threats. That's why it's a good idea to combine Branch Office with iPass Device Management, which simplifies keeping remote machines up-to-date and secure.

Providing Business Continuity
In the event of catastrophe, any enterprise-level solution must have a contingency plan for ensuring business continuity. Per SearchNetworking.com's survey, it's the leading upgrade consideration for 2007-tied with security-for branch offices. In fact, 34 percent of companies stated that it was a critical initiative.

The very nature of the iPass network provides for business continuity. For example, by having multiple providers built into the network architecture, if one portion of the network core is affected by disaster, the service automatically fails over to those portions of the core that remain unaffected. Optional dial-up failover is also available to ensure that business keeps moving forward. In addition, iPass experts are on the job 24 hours a day, every day, providing network monitoring, management, notification and troubleshooting.

Controlling Costs
No story is complete without addressing cost savings. A managed broadband access service enables companies to upgrade their branch office dial-up links and improve price performance by replacing expensive leased-line connections with broadband. Companies are also able to consolidate network infrastructure and reduce management costs. The resulting WAN solution can cost 70 percent less than frame-relay services while providing at least five times the throughput of 56 kbps dial-up access. The iPass Branch Office service and iPass Device Management both provide rapid ROI and low total cost of ownership. In fact, iPass can model the financial performance of these solutions prior to any purchase commitment.

Look Beyond the Box
A managed IP VPN solution coupled with advanced remote management services is a cost-effective way to solve branch office connectivity needs. iPass encourages networking professionals thinking about deploying such services to be sure to weigh the performance, security, business continuity and, of course, cost of any solution. They should also thoroughly research its ongoing manageability and support requirements.

Read more about iPass Branch Office or iPass Device Management.

Using LAN tools to manage your WAN?

Why not just use a LAN-based product to manage devices at remote sites? As many are finding out, LAN management solutions are designed for persistent LAN connectivity and lack the HTTP functionality to handle multiple domains and IP address issues. iPass Device Management is designed to manage remote and mobile devices without disrupting users.