Remote network access and the virtual private networks (VPNs) that make that access to corporate networks secure are often thrown in the tried-and-true technology pile. Are they necessary? Yes. Are they exciting? Not necessarily. Or maybe it’s time to rethink that.

The need to securely enable remote access to corporate networks in better, more agile ways is crucial to keep pace with increasingly complex networks that include access to private and public clouds.

The number of remote and mobile workers will only continue to grow. Telecommuting grew 115% in the past decade, according to Global Workplace Analytics. The networking technologies that make that possible include remote access, VPNs and low-cost broadband connections. For branch offices, emerging software-defined WAN products and services also make it cheaper to provide lower-cost bandwidth connections to corporate networks.

The good news is that emerging options for remote access are keeping pace with changing networks and receiving a good share of annual IT investment. Consider this: A recent TechTarget survey of organizations’ IT priorities revealed that implementing or improving VPN access within their organizations was the top goal among network professionals. A full 41% of the networking professionals had a VPN project on their to-do list for this year, and 29% were focused on how to best enable remote access and branch office connectivity.

VPN projects beat out much more cutting-edge technologies that get more than their fair share of networking hype. Why? Because VPNs and other tools needed to enable remote access are crucial. These now include cloud-based remote access and authentication as well as remote access as a service options. Cloud can also assist the thousands of organizations that still house their remote access products on-premises.

This handbook walks you through how to best enable remote access for your network as workloads go beyond the private data center.

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