BOSTON - HarvardNet is wheeling out RemoteConnect, a virtual private network (VPN) service for businesses in the Northeast.
Based on digital subscriber line (DSL) service, remote corporate sites can be linked at speeds ranging from 144K bit/sec to 1.5M bit/sec.
Remote sites will be equipped with Paradyne DSL gear and connect over a regular phone line to the HarvardNet network. The traffic will be switched via Cisco ATM switches to a corporate headquarters site over a T-1 or T-3 link.
For a 144K bit/sec connection, customers will pay $50 per month for a one-user site or $149 per site for multiple users. Installation costs $199 for a one-user site and $995 for multiple-user sites.
For sites that cannot be reached by DSL because of problems with the quality of phone lines, HarvardNet will make connections via frame relay circuits. A 56K bit/sec frame relay connection costs $219 per month
Plymouth Rock Assurance Co. is using a DSL VPN from HarvardNet to connect 120 remote sites run by independent insurance agents. Plymouth Rock is in the process of switching the agents over from a network of dumb terminals connected to the company's headquarters via 56K bit/sec frame relay connections, says Rich Wilkins, vice president of technology and chief information officer.
The VPN lets Plymouth eliminate the dumb terminals. Instead, agents use their PCs and browsers to access an Altiga tunnel server at corporate headquarters. Client software from Altiga creates an IP Security tunnel from the agent sites to headquarters.
The VPN service will cost Plymouth one-third of what the frame relay service costs, Wilkins says. That means Plymouth Rock can afford to let more agents contact company resources than before.
At 144K bit/sec, the VPN connections are more than twice as fast as frame relay connections. The traffic travels over the HarvardNet backbone and is delivered to Plymouth Rock headquarters in Boston over a T-1.
HarvardNet is planning on service-level agreements that will guarantee that network availability and delay stay within an acceptable range, the company says.
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