Extranets Everywhere

For all its ease of deployment among small businesses, establishing network VPN service can become tricky when extremely large extranets with multiple platforms and an array of different devices are involved. Case in point: Mega-market-specialist Commerce One, in Pleasanton, California, opted to package a network VPN service in its client offering, to enable the thousands of trading partners to participate in its exchanges.

"We staff lots of security specialists," says Robert Yusin, Commerce One's vice president for managed application services, "but maintaining VPN hardware is not our focus."

Commerce One held a bake-off among three VPN providers and selected Seattle-based eTunnels, thanks to the strength of its security certifications, management interface, reporting features, and ease of installation and maintenance on a multiplicity of devices.

"eTunnels was the only one that worked," says Yusin. Among the others, Commerce One was never able to get one service up and running, and the remaining provider sent a representative to help with configurations—the very on-site–service specter that Commerce One sought to avoid.

Although the right decision for your company—service or in-house–hosted—may be a tough call, making the decision will be much easier if you weigh the cost and expertise demands of both approaches with your IT personnel.