Virtual private networks are an appropriate measure to fill the gap between public and private networks, said John Sale, network services and strategy manager for EDS-Rank Xerox and chairman of the European VPN Users Association, at a Yankee Group global network strategies conference in Paris: We believe a hybrid of all three types of network will prove to be the most effective corporate network in Europe, he said; the Association has three main objectives, he said – improve network management, which is a bigger problem than simply lowering costs; pan-European functionality; and lower unit costs, which is probably the first thing we need to do; the major worry our members have is that it is still not possible to get pan-European service from a single vendor; Sale said that over 40 of the European Fortune 100 companies have now joined the Association.
