It is true to say that mobile and remote connectivity has become one of the hot topics at the moment. The service can help businesses deal with changing working patterns like teleworking, while extending the enterprise to their customers and suppliers alike. Other research suggests that remote working can increase employee productivity by 30% as well as leading to lower overheads.
Furthermore , a recent survey by analyst house Gartner Group found the average return on investment(ROI) on a virtual Private Network (VPN) was 55% in the first year, and 100% within 18 months.
It is into this environment that interfusion Networks have come to the market with a new service, NetHop. This provides users transparent network or Internet connectivity and reduces telecommunications costs by up to 75% in some cases. The service, which provides wired or wireless connectivity via dedicated, private tunnels within the internet (VPNs) is aimed at organisations with multiple branch locations such as franchise, dealerships or retail outlets as well as mobile or home-based staff.
The service is unique in that it supports a wide variety of access methods such as DSL, ISDN, leased line, frame relay and even GPRS.  As a fully managed service, NetHop negates the need to invest in costly hardware or software and frees up internal IT resources to concentrate on more pro-active tasks. Organisations can therefore expect reduced capital costs coupled with significant gains in employee productivity an operational efficiency.
Interfusion’s technical team handles full project management as well as after-sales

support to provide speedy problem resolution and guaranteed network uptime. Commenting on the launch of the service Derek Daly, Managing Director, Interfusion Networks said: “At a time when the focus is firmly on achieving high Return on Investment (RoI), organisations are turning towards outsourcing as a more efficient and cost-effective approach to managing their IT resources. The rollout of flat-rate, broadband Internet access and the increasing adoption of wireless services such as GPRS will drive the market growth in this segment and will fundamentally change the way in which branch offices or mobile workers approach their day-to-day tasks.
Paul Ledweidge, Technical Director, Interfusion Networks, spoke about the security aspects of the service. “VPNs are widely considered extremely secure despite using public networks. NetHop is a Managed Hosted VPN service that incorporates enhanced security using IPSee encryption standard and MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) technologies. This ensures data security and privacy in a wired and wireless environment. Again the underlying technologies are completely transparent to the user and connection speeds are not adversely affected, he said.
The set up time for NetHop is rapid: ”Typical set us involves us building a network environment for the customer within the MPLS core network. Locations are then added by using ADSL or ISDN Internet connections running IP VPN technology,” said Paul Ledwidge. “Location deployment can be completed as quickly as the connectivity can be installed. For ADSL this is typically 10-20 days from order.

Branch offices and home users are generally connected using IP VPN enabled routers. Client based VPN can be accommodated using VPN software running on laptops and PDA devices. We accept VPN connections from GPRS clients over the Internet but are looking at a direct connection to the GPRS network.”
“We are working with a number of companies in the retail motor industry. We are also working with a successful Irish EPOs company who are now marketing their solutions as an ASP service,” said Derek Daly. “Our connectivity allows economic access to such services. In fact the core network allows us the flexibility to plug in new services as we go.
”Initially we are offering centralised Internet access with built in and customisable content filtering and virus-swept managed email services. We are also piloting its use for mobile employees such as sales and delivery staff to provide connectivity to ordering and delivery systems.”
The costs to companies is also relatively low, and with the already mentioned high ROI figures, it should prove attractive to many business. “Network set-up and head office set-up vary from customer to customer. Generally this will range between €2,000 and €10,000 excluding the line/connectivity charges.” said Daly. “Typical branch charge over ADSL or ISDN will be €600-€850 inclusive of router for set-up and a management and maintenance fee of around €500-€700 per annum.