What is a VPN?

Business Long Distance - Guaranteed Lowest Rate Program

The question of exactly "what is a VPN" is one that is often up for discussion amongst today's network consumers and communications providers. If we look at the literal definition of the words virtual private network, it can help to understand what is, and what is not, a VPN

Using Webster's dictionary definitions of the component words, a VPN should have the following attributes:

1. Virtual - defined as "being such practically or in effect, although not in actual fact or name." Therefore, the first part of the answer to our question "what is a VPN" is that it is something that acts like a hard-wired network, but is actually not.
    
2. Private - defined as "of, belonging to, or concerning a particular person or group; not common or general." So, a VPN should be one where the consumer has exclusive use of the network links. (Note, this is different from a Secure Network, which may be a private or public network.)
    
3. Network - defined as "a system of computers interconnected by telephone wires or other means in order to share information." This is the goal of a VPN or any other type of network.

So now that we've defined the components, have we answered the question "what is a VPN?" Let's put our definitions together.

A virtual private network gives the owner the ability to share information with others on the network by means of a private, exclusive link that is created by a method other than hard-wires or leased lines; usually via the internet.

In answering the question "what is a VPN," we actually create a variety of other questions. A consumer will need to decide what level of security, data sharing and reliability they will need in order to provision the best type of VPN possible for their business.