Service providers have various options in the way in which they can offer outsourced IP virtual private network (VPN) services to customers. The original service offerings were mostly customer premises equipment (CPE)-based. In such services, service providers deploy and manage . . .
Service providers have various options in the way in which they can offer outsourced IP virtual private network (VPN) services to customers. The original service offerings were mostly customer premises equipment (CPE)-based. In such services, service providers deploy and manage CPE VPN gateways (in other words, dedicated VPN appliances or VPN-enabled routers/firewalls) at customer sites. IPSec tunneling is used to provide the required security for communication between sites over public Internet infrastructure.

Most major VPN service providers are now also offering one or more network-based IP VPN services. There are three types of network-based VPN services:

* Network-based IPSec
* MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching)
* Virtual routers over an ATM backbone

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