Virtual Private Network

A VPN is a system that allows two or more private networks to be connected over the Internet - telecommuters to corporate office, remote users to corporate office or small business to branch offices. The key word is "private". The last thing a business wants is to have sensitive corporate information shared with a potential hacker, or worse, competition. VPNs are considered extremely secure, despite using public networks.

VPNs require some kind of authorization, encryption and high availability. Other functions can be included such as data compression, routing ability, network address translation, bandwidth management capabilities and fail-over redundancy. Business owners can enable web content filtering, choosing to eliminate employee distractions throughout the day.