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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications-News Only!!! (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neil H who wrote (843)	1/6/1998 1:33:00 PM
From: blankmind	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1629

Microsoft and Cisco Join Forces If you've been reluctant to deploy a virtual private network (VPN) because you're not sure which technology will dominate--Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) or Layer Two Forwarding (L2F)--the wait is over. Acknowledging that a standard way to implement VPNs opens a larger market than competing alternatives would, advocates of PPTP and L2F have agreed on the Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP). Administrators typically have used leased lines to provide secure remote access for roaming and telecommuting employees, but quickly found the costs unmanageable. Access via the Internet (e.g. through a UPN) offers a scalable, cost-effective alternative. Early adopters have constructed VPNs using such proprietary solutions as L2F (supported by Cisco Systems, Nortel, and Shiva) or PPTP (developed by Microsoft, Ascend, and U.S. Robotics). These two protocols are more alike than different. Both L2F and PPTP authenticate remote users, associate users to a particular VPN, and most importantly, secure data through the use of tunneling (for details, see "Your Own Private Internet," NT Admin April 1997). L2F and PPTP differ primarily in the way each encodes and manages tunnels. But L2TP changes that, because it uses the standard IP Security Protocol (IPsec). It also supports a two-step authentication process that requires both the ISP and the enterprise hosting the VPN to verify the identity of users trying to access a corporate VPN. Better yet, because L2TP was developed by both the PPTP and L2F camps working together, it's taking a fast track through the Internet standards process--at press time, NT-based VPN clients and servers were already starting to appear from companies including Red Creek and VPNet. So if you've held off deploying VPNs, the time to move ahead is near. A standard that has full industry support is compelling, especially for cost-conscious IT managers who must support a "secure from anywhere" access model.--David M. Piscitello