Securing the connectivity of the mobile user can be a particular challenge for the IT manager. A central problem for the virtual private network (VPN) in the mobile environment, and in particular when using a wireless wide area network (WAN), is that session persistence can be a real headache. Fixed-line VPN technology doesn’t work too well when the need arises to change the endpoint’s IP address, as can happen in the wireless arena.
The mobile VPN market is still an emerging space. In terms of the competitive environment, it falls into two camps. Firstly, there are the larger players such as Cisco, which has added in mobile IP technology for roaming to its standard VPN offering. Motorola has introduced its Multi-Net Mobility, while IBM has its WebSphere Everyplace Connection Manager (WECM) technology for the same purpose.
Secondly, there are the smaller, dedicated products such as Mobility XE from NetMotion Wireless that are designed to deal with wireless security, session management, roaming, performance, and handheld device support.
NetMotion’s approach to the VPN issues has been to work with the user datagram protocol (UDP) instead of transmission control protocol (TCP) as the transport layer, to avoid TCP’s chattiness. However, since UDP can be less reliable than TCP, it also requires the use of NetMotion’s own internet mobility protocol (IMP) that enables selective acknowledgement of the receipt of packets. In addition, all the traffic is coalesced within the tunnel, so there is no need to re-learn all of the link characteristics each time the application changes.
NetMotion Wireless Mobility XE and Mobility XE Policy Management products are used by Unilever field sales representatives worldwide, providing secure, uninterrupted access to enterprise applications over a number of wireless and wired networks. Unilever required support for security policies, including use of RSA SecurID two-factor authentication, as well as effective access to enterprise applications wherever and whenever business is transacted.
Unilever depends on its field sales team to secure orders for products from wholesale and retail outlets across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. The sales team requires secure and reliable communications in order to access mission-critical information in real-time, and submit sales orders for immediate processing while away from the office.
The industry should reconsider whether the existing VPN technology is capable of meeting the requirements of the mobile environment. Organizations should look at alternative innovative approaches that are now available for improving the way mobile connectivity is secured.
Source: OpinionWire by Butler Group (www.butlergroup.com)
