Once upon a time a new IT manager for a Fortune 500 company sought to eliminate multiple dial-in connections to his company’s network. He recognized how vulnerable to attack they were but also realized he couldn’t just turn them off because a dozen or so key personnel relied on them to monitor the company’s 24/7 manufacturing process. After multiple management and budget meetings he persuaded upper management to fund a $20,000 capital project to purchase and install the necessary routers, firewall and VPN (Virtual Private Network) devices to enable remote connections to the company’s network over the internet. A few months later everything was installed, working properly and the company had a secure, manageable VPN. Managers and engineers routinely connected to the company network from home and while traveling and the IT manager slept soundly, secure in the notion his network was secure. Everyone was happy. Everyone, that is, except their competitor. A smaller company that couldn’t afford $20K just had to live without VPN capability.
Fast-forward just a few years to today. That same smaller company is still living without a VPN. Not because they can’t afford it, but because they don’t know the same capability costs less than $1000 today! They don’t realize they could send someone to Office Depot and buy a single device with all the VPN capability they need for about $500 and spend another $500 to install and configure it. So why is this company still living without the capability to connect to their network remotely?

The bigger question is:

Why are you?

Tags: networking, technology, strategy