A growing number of companies in Africa are using virtual private networks (VPNs) to operate more efficiently, and they are doing so using sophisticated satellite technology.
VPNs are about leveraging shared infrastructures whereby organisations can route their data traffic without having to set up their own dedicated facilities. Their traffic remains private but the overall computer network infrastructure is shared, and this reduces costs dramatically.
Says Greg Hatfield, general manager, VPN Solutions at IS: "One of the great problems in setting up modern network infrastructures in Africa is that the telephone networks tend to be antiquated. Even if new terrestrial networks are laid out, there is a huge risk that the lines will be stolen for the copper they contain.
"We are working with Transtel, who run a world-class satellite service into Africa, to provide our satellite VPN. This means that organisations in sub-Saharan Africa can link directly into our VPN, without the hassle and expense of trying to do it over regular fixed lines," he says.
Hatfield says that many more multinational and South African companies are establishing a presence on the continent. Although some use the Internet in order to inter-connect to their various offices, for example, most find that connections are too unreliable on the continent (outside SA). Some larger companies are able to set up their own networks at great expense but for most, the best option is to hook into a satellite-based VPN, which is emphasised by the number of deployments IS is already busy with.
"There are no complicated set-up procedures, and we can control the performance of the VPN as opposed to the Internet, which is subject to browsing traffic, congestion and intermittent network availability," says Hatfield.
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