Roaming Internet service for business travelers is not a new service, but making it secure enough for VPN duty is another thing entirely—something ISPs will want to offer their business subscribers.

by Jim Wagner of internetnews.com [April 13, 2001]

The GRICtraveler VPN solution by GRIC Communications, Inc., lets users dial in from anywhere in the world, for the cost of a local phone call in many cases, and connect to their company's network without giving administrators fits over possible security breaches.

It's a value-add service that has the potential to net ISPs more business customers and keep the ones it already has.

The price
The price for the initial set up, ranging from roughly $24,000 to $90,000, is cost-prohibitive for many fledgling businesses. But for ISPs with an eye to long-term profits, it would be relatively easy to set up and charge those small businesses on a per user basis, cutting the cost for the business and giving the ISP a customer who's going to stay.

The technology, developed by Lucent Technologies, Inc., is a combination high-performance security firewall and IPSec client software solution. The security was given the seal of approval from the National Security Agency and ICSA, given that it uses the DES encryption algorithm.

With it, users running the Windows operating system log in using the dial up software, which finds the nearest Point of Presence (POP), after securing the user's information by way of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols. The customer then connects to the Internet through the available ISP and the firewall program is automatically launched.

Laura Mellow, GRICtraveler business unit vice president and general manager, said GRIC's alliance of ISPs makes the technology particularly useful for international travelers.

"By offering the GRICtraveler VPN solution, our GRIC alliance network of more than 300 of the world's top-tier ISPs and telecommunications companies will be able to provide their subscribers and enterprise customers with 'single-click, plug-and-go' dialer capabilities, so that they can roam the Internet anywhere in the world—no matter where they are traveling," Mellow said.

According to a report by online analysis company IDC, the need for remote access IP-based VPNs will grow 75 percent year over year for the next three years. By 2004, ICC analysts say, more than 10 billion users and branch offices will use remote access VPNs, with revenues of more than $2 billion.

ISP partners
GRIC has been signing on ISP and carrier partners for its roaming Internet alliance for a couple years now, and has collected an impressive array of members. Some of the more well-known include AOL Time Warner, Cable & Wireless, France Telecom, Telstra and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT).

Alliance members offer their subscribers international access to the local POPs of alliance partners, monitored, routed and billed by GRIC.

On Monday, the provider beefed up its European roaming presence with an alliance with Nextra, a division of pan-European giant Telenor, putting the alliance's POP count at more than 12,000 in 150 countries.

Maxime Gerard, GRIC's managing director, said ISPs are coming to realize that mobile access is becoming an requirement for up-and-coming businesses.

"This collaboration validates our long-term goal of providing reliable Internet-based mobile office communications services anywhere, any time, through any device," Gerard said.

—End