Ah yes! we can all agree that one of the biggest problems of running businesses with flexible solutions is cost. Something which if underlooked would cost a business huge funds for only small returns. hence businesses are always on the lookout for cheaper solutions that can still provide the same Flexible business operability as expensive ones. Here's a post about a cheaper Solution we found for VPN Implementations; What's does this mean for businesses?. if you are in the same shoes as we were. then it's going to be a breakthrough. You will learn how to implement VPNs using a cheaper solution?
VPNs( Virtual Private Networks) have been around since 1996 when a Microsoft employee who research says Gurdeep Singh-Pall started developing the Peer to Peer Tunneling Protocol (PPTP). In 1999, the specification was published. Over time, VPNs and the concept behind this technology have changed drastically in both small, medium and large Corporations. Historically, VPN-style connections were provided through dial-up modems or leased lines using X.25, Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) virtual circuits. These are not, however, considered to be true VPNs. A VPN is an easy way to protect your privacy online, and often a tool for circumventing unwanted internet restrictions. However, I personally believe whoever started the concept of VPNs was actually looking to solve a problem, First cost-saving, Business mobility, security etc. Now that we have a brief knowledge of VPN history, let's talk about some of the aspects we think he thought before embarking on such a wonderful quest. In this article, I am going to talk about a cheaper solution for setting up VPNs, this is the same solution we are using at my current Organization where I work and I can tell you that what let us finding this was mainly for cost-saving.
1) Cost Saving: Before VPNs, Businesses used dedicated T1 Lines to connect their remote and Corporate offices. Believe me, T1 lines were very expensive especially if the organization had multiple remote locations. Each T1 line only connected to one location meaning if you had five offices, you needed five T1 lines managed by solely ISPs(Internet Service providers). The cost of one T1 line ranged from $300 to $1000 bucks depending on your devices and it was often Per month running at a speed of 1.544Mbps. If more speed was needed the Organization had to buy another dedicated T1 line with 1.544Mbps which was then merged to run as one link. The good side is you enjoy all that you pay for, there was hardly obstruction or traffic since the line was dedicated to that particular office or company branch. but with VPNs, all you needed was just internet availability in all the offices you wish to connect together
2) Mobility: Moving from one location to another wasn't so much flexible as each time, a business had to change office or an area, it was like redoing the installation process which often posed some extra cost and work. but with VPNs, In as much as there is the internet, they can run to any location without even noticing someone has moved.
3) Security: There is hardly enough comparisons here as VPN technology exists to provide security. Leased lines otherwise T1s exist just to provide connectivity. VPNs and Leased Lines solve very different problems. That's not to say that leased lines are insecure, merely that their job is to provide connectivity, not encryption or authentication as the IPsec protocol of VPNs ensures it. VPNs encrypt your data transmissions since they flow via the internet and the internet can be accessible and interceptable by everyone or anyone.
That said, let me share with you our cost-effective solution for VPNs, It is true that VPNs are cheap, all you needed was internet access however there must be a router to aid in routing the incoming and outgoing traffic to where it's intended, so this is how we were able to substitute three devices for one which was still able to do what the three initially did. Initially, My company used the Cisco ASA 5505 which provided the VPN features and configuration( Some of our remote offices and service stations used the cisco RV320 which was still compatible with the ASA 5505), next we had an Internet Flybox from our Service which was there to provide internet access via a high speed 4G internet sim then lastly a TP-LINK 450Mbps access point. Both the Flybox from our service provider and TPlink access point connects to the Cisco ASA 5505.
Now, these three devices are what enabled us to connect with all remote sides we managed their technical operations affairs. It's via these same devices that receive help or connect with our third-party vendors and Back Office operations overseas. These same devices were also installed on all 300+ service stations for whom we control their petroleum and sales activities. Implementing these on every site we managed and those still to come was quite expensive, worst still the equipment got bad quite often than expected in between the ranges of nine months to fifteen months. that meant changing it from time to time and costly. configuration of the ASA was difficult so often, we had to pay cisco certified professional to get in configured according to our needs. then the breakthrough came when we finally got a Solution and that was the RUT950 from Teltonika.
RUT950 is a high-performance industrial 4G LTE Wi-Fi router designed as a Main/Backup internet source and guarantees a reliable internet connection with high data throughput and data redundancy. Compatible with the Teltonika Networks Remote Management System (RMS) for easy and secure monitoring. It is a low-cost M2M 4G Router solution for remote management and monitoring. This is an embedded 4G Router with dual SIM card slots so you can use the SIM card in SIM slot A as your primary mobile broadband service and if the primary service is unavailable, for example, the local base station is down you can use the other. The device is both an access point, Router and provides the features of a Flybox which we initially used for the internet. all we needed was just to insert the high-speed Simcard preconfigured for our needs by our service provider and that gave us the internet.
image Courtesy: Setuprouter
The said device featured four antennas, two for mobile operability and the other two for WIFI. it's quite small yet very powerful and poses no problems with compatibility with other brands. It has one WAN port and four switch ports, if you had more devices then you'll probably need a switch to connect to one of its switch ports. We configured all VPN routes inside one main IPsec tunnel. about protocols, it supports many others aside IPsec such as PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN etc.
The price is $222, If you are interested in this device, Check out the link directly from amazon Teltonika Rut950.
That said, I'm interested to learn about what solutions you've got. Share your feedback about this post or should you wish to become a Co-author, let me hear from you via the contact form. please share and subscribe. Thank you for reading.
Comments