Sage Research Releases IP VPN Roundtable Results

July 17, 2002 -- Market research and consulting firm Sage Research (SageResearch.com) announced on Wednesday that it has published the results of the Sage Technology Roundtable, "IP VPNs--Requirements for Moving Beyond Remote Access."

In the July 8 session, 12 IT decision-makers discussed outsourcing IP VPN technology, giving their views on security, voice services and outsourcing issues. The monthly Sage Technology Roundtables are online focus groups intended to examine critical issues surrounding a specific technology or service.

Participants in the discussion were split as to whether they outsourced their IP VPNs, and revealed the reasons for their decisions. Outsourcers said network management and cost were the main drivers, while those that handled operations in-house were more focused on security concerns.

"The security concerns of those who don't outsource their VPNs shows a lack of trust in service providers by many IT decision-makers," says Chris Neal, a research director at Sage Research. "As IP VPN security improves, trust in the service providers to provide security will increase, plus the VPNs will become more complex to manage internally. Currently, enterprises are satisfied with IPSec and don't want any more management headaches by adding personal firewalling, intrusion detection systems, and other security features to IPSec clients."

The discussion revealed that managers are comfortable with IPSec security, but are hesitant to implement VoIP on their IP VPNs. Uptime was unanimously considered a priority for IP VPN SLAs.

More results from the roundtable discussion are available from the Sage research Web site.