Fast and Secure VPNs
Phase 1 of our ongoing project to integrate and upgrade YMCA Black Country group’s IT systems was completed last week, with the installation of fast broadband services with secure VPN connections between all sites.
What Is a VPN?
Put simply, a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, is a group of computers securely networked together over the internet. A business can use VPNs to connect remote users to network resources, such as files, emails and applications, using a secure, encrypted connection, when the users are not physically in the same place as the network resources.
Why You Need a VPN-based Infrastructure
There are at least four good reasons to start using VPNs in your organisation:
- First, VPNs are particularly useful for connecting multiple networks together securely. For this reason, most organisations, big and small, rely on VPNs to share information and other networked resources among multiple offices.
- Second, you can use a VPN to connect securely to a remote network via the Internet. Many organisations use VPNs so that employees can use files, applications, printers, and other resources on the office network when they are away from the office without compromising security.
- Third, VPNs save the cost of renting dedicated internet connections. The installation and maintenance of VPN connections is very low compared to traditional dedicated line solutions.
- And finally, VPNs allow organisations to create a better disaster recovery plan: If an organisation experiences a disaster, so that an office can not function for a while, then VPN enabled computers can be provided to employees, who might be at home or in temporary office space, so that they can continue to use business resources at unaffected locations. In this way VPN connections can replace the physical reliance on the workplace.
