Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Networking

    Virtela Makes VPNs Affordable

    By
    eWEEK EDITORS
    -
    October 15, 2001
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Large carriers have been launching different virtual private network services for three years now, and failed to spark mass adoption of the technology because they are the wrong companies to bring the technology to businesses, the founders of new VPN startup Virtela Communications said.

      Taking a page from AOLs play book, Virtela leases the entire network that it needs to bring VPNs to a wide array of businesses. It is also positions itself as a VPN provider, as opposed to bandwidth reseller, and supports this stance with service-level agreements (SLAs) that guarantee application performance – not network quality.

      “Virtela has one goal: to bring private networking to enterprises,” said Vab Goel, Virtelas chairman and CEO. “We believe that enterprises didnt take advantage of the disruption that IP technology brought.”

      Scheduled to launch on Oct. 15 with several customers aboard, Virtela plans to use public Internet backbones, T1 (1.5-megabit-per-second) leased lines that are available from most regional Bells and edge routers from companies that could include Cisco Systems, CoSine Communications and Lucent Technologies, to pull together a virtual network that would deliver affordable VPN services to enterprises. Virtela needs to sell its VPN service to 500 locations to break even on its network costs, Goel said.

      Virtela is funded with $75 million, according to Goel. The company turned down vendor financing offers and took in investments from a number of venture capital funds, such as New Enterprise Associates, Norwest Venture Partners and Palomar Ventures. It also received investments from Juniper Networks, RSA Security and Symantec. Goel, currently also a partner at Norwest, was involved in building data networks for Qwest Communications International and Sprint. Most other management team members also have operations backgrounds with Qwest and Sprint.

      So far, customers are enthusiastic. Boston-based design firm AnalytX is using Virtela to venture into videoconferencing, a technology previously too expensive to deploy over other virtual networks. Another customer, the international engineering firm Winphoria Networks, is using Virtela instead of running its own VPN service in-house.

      “I have looked at VPN offerings from larger carriers, and they were too big for me to accomplish what I need to accomplish,” said Dave Heafey, Winphorias IT director. “Virtela is very flexible, and created a support plan for us around what we need.”

      Heafey liked that Virtela was able to set up a managed VPN service over existing Internet access pipes, for the most part fractional T1 lines from a motley collection of carriers in India, Spain and the U.S. He was also excited about an SLA that Virtela gave Winphoria that covers such unusual aspects of data connectivity as jitter – an essential coverage for applications such as voice. Such application-specific SLAs are at the core of Virtelas philosophy.

      “You wont find anybody offering SLAs for applications,” Goel said, adding that having such SLAs is part of the “magic” technology that Virtela has developed.

      Upon closer examination, the “magic” appears to be a collection of hardware and software products designed to monitor traffic moving through Virtela-managed networks, and to assign higher- and lower-level priority to data supporting different kinds of applications.

      Notably, Goel is adamantly against Multiprotocol Label Switching as a network technology that could support such SLAs. He said that MPLS technology was not designed to support VPNs, and is not widespread enough to deliver such traffic information from different carrier networks. Virtela, he pointed out, is poised to trump larger competitors because it is network- and technology-agnostic, managing dial-up and leased line VPNs alike, delivered over any number of individual connections, through any number of carriers.

      “IP goes beyond a single carrier network,” Goel said.

      eWEEK EDITORS
      eWeek editors publish top thought leaders and leading experts in emerging technology across a wide variety of Enterprise B2B sectors. Our focus is providing actionable information for today’s technology decision makers.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×