Please pass the savings - Company Operations

Communications News, March, 1999 by John Overstreet

Roam if you want to ... privately and cheaply.

Originally, IDB Systems (IDB) employees placed long-distance calls in order to log into the Internet or their corporate network. However, this approach was soon found to be excessively expensive. IDB Systems went in search of a cost-effective, reliable, and easy-to-use Internet and connectivity solution for its global workforce.

Founded in 1983 and based in Dallas, Texas, IDB is an innovator and global leader in the design, engineering, integration, and installation of satellite earth-station facilities. The company, which oversees every aspect of earth-station production from initial material procurement through post installation, employs a great deal of electronic communication. IDB employees constantly send and receive email and transfer files from all over the world.

IDB Systems undertook a month-long evaluation of various companies that would provide it with an Internet roaming service and virtual private network (VPN) solutions. At the end of the evaluation period, the organization chose to implement Microsoft's PPTP VPN, Exchange Server 5.5, a firewall, and the Windows NT authentication platform--in conjunction with the iPass corporate access service.

IDB Systems purchased services from Central House Technologies, a privately held marketer and distributor of Internet, security, and messaging products, located in Plymouth, Calif. Central House supported IDB Systems with the initial installation of the iPass RoamServer software and continues to provide ongoing support and iPass remote-access usage reporting.

HOW IT'S DONE

The iPass RoamServer software is run on the Windows NT authentication platform with NT's native challenge/response authentication protocol. Remote users work on the Windows 95 platform and use the iPass Dial Wizard (a point-and-click interface with iPass' worldwide access numbers) to dial into the Internet. With the iPass standards-based service for Internet connectivity, combined with PPTP, remote users are able to use the Internet to gain access to IDB Systems' corporate network.

Microsoft's VPN technology is based upon the industry-standard point-to-point tunneling protocol (PPTP). The VPN allows IDB Systems to achieve secure connectivity between remote clients and private networks via the Internet. Microsoft's VPN provides IDB with an economical, secure, reliable, and easy-to-implement solution for securely using the Internet as an extension of its private network.

Exchange server 5.5 allows IDB's global workers and partners to communicate and work together more effectively. Its robust e-mail capabilities contribute to reliable messaging that helps IDB employees keep in touch, organize daily schedules and meetings, and manage and share information. Microsoft's Exchange Server 5.5 fuses all the communications that comprise the business day--sharing tasks, working together on documents, and managing projects. This effective collaboration system takes advantage of an existing infrastructure to help employees work quickly and smoothly between offices, across the corporate campuses, and among teams scattered around the globe.

ACCESS ANYWHERE IS KEY

iPass, a key part to IDB's remote dialup solution, provides "Access Anywhere" through the world's largest network of telcos, ISPs, and data networks. For the price of a local phone call, iPass offers 3,000 worldwide connection points in more than 1,500 cities in 150 countries. Because iPass uses local--rather than long-distance--phone lines, it provides the company with clear, dependable connections. And since it maintains multiple access points in every major business center, iPass offers back-up connectivity in the event of busy signals or temporary service outages. Unlike most roaming services, which employ different dial-in procedures at each connection point, iPass' point-and-click Dial Wizard uses the same method regardless of a user's location.

Organizations that provide Internet access for the iPass network include: MCI WorldCom, CompuServe Network Services, OzEmail, GTE Internetworking, EQUANT, Hong Kong Telecom, NEC, NTT PC Communications, and Pacific Internet. The iPass corporate access service is available to enterprises through more than 500 ISPs, system integrators, VARs, and leading technology vendors who have integrated the iPass technology--making their networking and security products "iPass Ready."

The iPass service enables IDB's authentication server to work with those of iPass' global alliance of ISPs, telcos, and data networks, iPass provides secure user authentication through each of its access points and then acts as a clearinghouse for these transactions, paying the ISPs for the use of their networks and producing usage statements similar to telephone bills. These statements allow IDB Systems to see exactly who uses the service and how much time they spend online and enables the company to track usage and remote-access costs by department.

In all, creating a virtual private network solution for IDB has lowered IDB's communications costs, increased its ease of use, and provided secure and reliable Internet access from anywhere in the world.