Document management company Pitney Bowes has scored a UK
first with the implementation of a satellite-based virtual private
network for high-speed internet connection at one of its branches -
in the process avoiding about £8,000 a year in
costs.
The company installed the system when it found that the branch was
beyond the reach of ADSL - the company's preferred technology for
branch office connection.
Pitney Bowes looked at installing a leased line from BT and found
that it would have cost £10,000 a year in the first year and £8,000
per annum thereafter.
For an installation fee of £500 and a £250 per month charge, the
satellite VPN provides a 1mbps download and 256kbps uplink.
David Whitelegg, IT solutions engineer at Pitney Bowes, said, "We
needed to connect our main site at Hemel Hempstead with an office
near Leek which was out of range of ADSL and looked like it would
be for the next 100 years because it is so remote. We investigated
BT satellite equipment first but it would not support VPN. Aramiska
equipment is, as far as we know, the only satellite equipment to do
this."
The implementation involved installing Aramiska satellite equipment
at the Leek premises. This comprised a dish that receives and
allows uploading and a box which enables connection to the PPTP
port required for VPNs. Behind this are Checkpoint firewalls, which
establish the VPN tunnel.