Managed Services

IPSec VPN

Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) is the most widely used data encapsulation technology for transmitting encrypted data across the Internet, or any IP network. Using an IPSec VPN, companies with remote users or locations can safely transmit company information internally (intranet) or externally (extranet) without it being read or tampered with during its journey.

There are many different ways to deploy an IPSec VPN, each with different degrees of flexibility, manageability and performance - and vastly different total costs of ownership. ACM offers a wide selection of IPSec VPN options to address different networking scenarios and maximize these benefits, while minimizing your costs and risks. Although a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) VPN, using low-cost Internet access and VPN equipment, may appear to be the least expensive approach, the initial savings are dwarfed by the higher costs of network planning, implementation and management. Moreover, the complexity of IPSec VPNs, with the multitude network access, equipment and security technologies, make this approach highly risky. And, depending on which technologies you choose, the flexibility and performance of your IPSec VPN may be severely limited and possibly inadequate for your current and future applications.

ACM's IPSec VPN services are professionally designed to meet even the most demanding requirements, and can be seamlessly integrated with our other ACM networking and security solutions for extended functionality and flexibility. They are also fully managed, so you don't need to incur the cost, hassle and scalability limitations of a DIY approach. Instead, your ACM IPSec VPN solution will continue to support your growing business and minimize your long-term total cost of ownership.

Connecting Remote Users And Locations

IPSec VPNs are either software-based (used to connect remote users' PCs) or hardware-based (used to connect remote locations via a VPN device or router). For ACM's Remote Access VPN service, we install the Cisco IPSec client on your remote users' PCs and terminate the IPSec tunnels on Cisco equipment located in our network or at your data center (see Network-based versus Dedicated Concentrators, below). While our Site-to-Site VPN service centers around the use of private connections to our MPLS network, we will deploy VPN routers on sites connected via the Internet to extend the reach of your MPLS VPN to off-net and partner locations. We will even connect sites that already have Internet access, though the advantage of using ACM's Internet access service is that we can then provide end-to-end management and support. Unlike the typical hub-and-spoke topology of a DIY approach, IPSec tunnels from these locations are terminated on Cisco equipment located in ACM's network and mapped into your MPLS VPN for fully-meshed network connectivity capable of supporting any-to-any applications, like IP Telephony and Videoconferencing.

Choose A Network-based Or Dedicated Concentrator IPSec VPN

ACM offers both Network-based and Dedicated Concentrator IPSec VPN solutions, to address different networking and business requirements. Our Network-based IPSec VPN solution leverages Cisco Provider Edge Accelerated VPN Routers located throughout the ACM network to terminate your site-to-site or remote access IPSec tunnels. This is ideal for customers that want to extend the reach of their MPLS VPN to include a few additional sites and remote users without incurring the costs of dedicated concentrators. It can also provide close geographic proximity and redundancy for greater performance and reliability.

ACM's Dedicated Concentrator IPSec VPN solutions include the configuration, deployment and management of state-of-the-art Cisco VPN concentrator(s) located either in our network or in your data center(s). These solutions are ideal for customers with large populations of remote users or that require encryption for all their site-to-site traffic.

Flexible Access, Network and Security Options

Access - ACM's IPSec VPN solutions optimize enterprise networks for reach, diversity and cost by supporting IPSec connections from our network, our Access Partners' networks or even non-partner networks. With ACM, you're never limited by an individual carrier's network reach or access methodologies.

Network - ACM also allows customers to choose either MPLS Private Networking or one of several IPSec VPN services on a per location basis. Our innovative IPSec-to-MPLS integration enables you to combine these networking technologies to maximize your network performance and reach without the increased cost and complexity of using multiple vendors.

Security - For any business leveraging the Internet for a corporate network, security is paramount. Protecting your network from intrusions, viruses and denial of service attacks is critical, even if your network only has only one connection to the public Internet. ACM's IPSec VPN solutions delivers the highest level of protection by using DES and 3DES encryption, plus various other optional Security Services, so you can be confident that your data is secure.

Managing IPSec VPNs with numerous access providers and best-in-class security technologies is something ACM does everyday for thousands of locations and remote users - let us manage yours too.