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What is a VPN and why do I want one?
It is some rocking-cool techno stuff that makes life easier.
A VPNs Purpose in Life
There are often many technical resources that are available on local computer networks like the one in your office, which you cannot access from outside that location through the Internet. These resources may be file servers where employees save and read data from or various software systems that your business uses to function.
A computer network is typically “locked down” to prevent people on the Internet from accessing these resources and systems because they are private. Firewalls, Network Address Translation, and other security measures protect your systems and information from intrusion by outsiders and harmful computer viruses.
It can be beneficial to be able to grant access to these protected resources and information from outside your local office to authorized people. That is where a VPN comes into play. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and it is a secure way to allow people to access local resources on a protected computer network from virtually any Internet connection.
For example, you may wish to allow an employee to work from home or your business may have a relationship with another company that would be facilitated by granting them access to your network. A VPN is a way to achieve this authorized access to your network securely without increasing your vulnerability to damaging Internet attacks.
The Problem with VPNs
The downside to a VPN has always been the complexity and cost of getting it setup and having it maintained. Traditionally expensive equipment must be purchased for each location on the VPN and it takes a lengthy and costly configuration period to get the VPN working correctly.
If the VPN ever requires maintenance or repair in the future, yet another costly process commences. Businesses often have to go through an extensive reconfiguration of their entire computer network to setup a VPN, which requires setup changes on every computer and creates a lot of frustration and downtime.
BitLeap®’s FlexTunnel VPN
BitLeap’s FlexTunnel VPN makes setting up a VPN easy and affordable. The LeapServ® network appliance sits on your local network and acts as a VPN access device to our FlexTunnel VPN network. It can then be configured to route traffic between your physical offices or to connect laptops and PCs on the Internet into your office using a simple software client.
Flextunnel VPN is the most innovative VPN architecture available in the industry today. It lets you setup connections between locations without changing any of your existing local network configuration. Even if the locations that are being connected are using completely different IP address ranges, your FlexTunnel VPN connection can help you easily share resources between the sites. Wanna know more? Check out the How does FlexTunnel VPN work? FAQ.