After bagging an earlier homegrown VPN offering two years ago upon determining it was too complex and expensive, Internap last week said it is coming out with a new one.
After bagging an earlier homegrown VPN offering two years ago upon determining it was too complex and expensive, Internap last week said it is coming out with a new one.
The company’s Managed VPN service is a customer premises equipment-based offering based on Cisco routers and VPN client software.
While Internap is entering a crowded market – AT&T, MCI and Sprint have delivered such services for years – observers say the company is doing several things to make its offering stand apart.
For example, by using Cisco’s VPN client software for end users accessing their corporate VPN via DSL, Wi-Fi or cable modem, Internap is focusing on tight security even at remote sites, says Andreas Antonopoulos, principal analyst at Nemertes Research.
The client supports the same security, IPSec encryption and tunneling as Cisco routers, says John Keller, product manager at Internap.
The service requires users to deploy a Cisco router at their site to support secure IPSec tunnels that run over Internap’s national IP backbone. Customers can use Cisco routers they have in-house, or they can purchase new ones.
The service includes router and VPN configuration and customer premise setup, equipment and software maintenance, 24-7 IP VPN performance monitoring and software updates and patch support.
Internap also is trying to make its mark by offering proactive network performance guarantees. Its standard service-level agreement (SLA) guarantees 100% network availability, latency less than 45 millisec and packet loss of less than 0.3%.
This is the same SLA available to the service provider’s dedicated IP customers.
Internap supports its Managed VPN service over other service providers’ dedicated Internet connectivity. Internap makes this feature available to users who might have a contract with another service provider that they can’t or do not want to break. But Keller notes Internap’s performance SLA only applies to Internap IP connectivity.
Because Internap discontinued its old VPN offering, it has been reselling VPN services from Blue Ridge Networks and VeriSign, which it will continue to do, Keller says. Blue Ridge has a VPN product that specifically conforms to privacy regulations in the healthcare industry, and the VeriSign offering includes digital certificate support. He says this is key to some users such as those in the financial industry.
Internap’s Managed VPN service costs $300 per month, per dedicated site, regardless if that site is connecting via a fractional T-1 or OC-3. Users pay Internap’s standard access fees on top of the VPN service charge. Internap’s price for a dedicated T-1 is about $500 per month. The service provider’s list price for a dedicated T-3 is about $4,500 per month.
