Enabling flexible working using hybrid IP VPNs

The premise of this paper is based on the simple marketing concept that work should be an activity not a location, it is something people do and not somewhere they go. This simple marketing concept has been enabled by the availability of new technology, new applications, and new services from an array of vendors and service providers. These technologies, applications, and services include: secure connectivity using SSL, IPSec, and MPLS based IP VPNs; high speed broadband access using Wi-Fi, xDSL, and UMTS; applications including telephony, video, email, and Internet services can run on laptops, personal data assistants (PDAs), and smartphones; the separation of network and service following the introduction of telephony and video call servers; and devices can be secured and protected using personal firewalls, intrusion detection, anti virus, and bio-metric access. By bringing together all this technology as a service offering, enterprises are able to securely extend their corporate IT infrastructures and applications to locations, remote workers, and home workers irrespective of where they happen to be. This paper looked at how these technologies can be brought together to make work an activity not a location.