Virtual Private Network History

Business Long Distance - Guaranteed Lowest Rate Program

Depending on which industry definition you use, virtual private network history began at different points of evolution in communications technology. By definition, a VPN is a system that acts like a physically linked network but in fact is not.

All networks are virtual to some extent, but if look at a purely physical means of the beginnings of virtual private network history, then networks have been virtual since telephone companies started provisioning WANs (Wide Area Networks) over channelized T3 circuits instead of over copper wire.

However, perhaps a better way of discussing virtual private network history is to note the impact the internet has had on the technology. Before the internet became nearly-universal, a VPN was made up of one or more leased circuits.

Each circuit was like a single wire in a network that the customer had control over. The customer's communications vendor sometimes had a part in managing the customer's network, but the basic point was that a customer could operate the leased circuits in the same way that they used the physical cables in their local network.

Initially, the only privacy that the customer had on these first VPNs was that the communications vendor assured the customer that no other customer would operate on the same circuit. In this way, customers were able to have their own IP addresses and security policies.

However, a leased circuit could easily be compromised as it ran through any number of switches. Anyone with the knowledge to do so could observe the traffic on the circuit. The customer simply had to rely on the communications provider to ensure the safety of their data.

As the internet became more and more popular for businesses, vendors began to realize that security was of great importance - both for the customer and the vendor themselves.

Since VPNs originally offered no true security, vendors began to create protocols that would encrypt data traffic as it left one end of the network connection and is sent through the internet in a private "tunnel." Even if the traffic is seen, it cannot be interpreted.

And it cannot be changed without the receiving end recognizing, and therefore rejecting the changes. The data can only be decrypted when it arrives at it's destination by the matching protocol on the receiving end of the tunnel.

As virtual private network history has evolved, it has created a current market that involves a variety of vendors and protocols. Moving forward, the challenges facing VPN users and vendors involve not only the growing and adapting security measures, but also in creating standardized protocols and hardware to allow communication among differently supported and organized VPN networks.