After its popularity in the early 2000s when it was used to protect laptop connections, virtual private network (VPN) is back on CIOs’ agendas again—now to support their mobility strategies. As before when VPN was used for laptop connections made outside enterprises, mobile VPN (or mVPN) solutions are being adopted to promote mobile workers with secure, reliable remote access to network resources and information from virtually anywhere.
Mobile VPN adoption may increase, boosted by the growth of enterprise mobility strategies and employees’ need to access corporate data from everywhere through their personal or company-owned mobile devices.
According to Citrix, two key enterprise trends, the consumerization of IT and the steady move to cloud services, are renewing interest in VPN technology.
“One of the challenges is how to provide access to application data that are behind the firewall. The only way to do that is by using a full VPN on devices,” Natalie Lambert, director of product marketing at Citrix, told RCR Wireless News.
Citrix has launched so-called “micro VPN,” a specific application to ensure security regardless of the device. The CloudGateway is set to let employees browse their enterprise’s internal websites from mobile devices, enabling management, security and control over Web and native mobile applications and data.
“Today, more and more users want mobility. They are no longer sitting at corporate waiting; they want to be able to use their devices, to access data and get their work done, wherever they are located,” said Lambert.
