This article will describe in detail what Virtual Private Network is and how it is used in businesses. It will cover all the benefits, as well as the problems faced in achieving success with this social software facilitator. It will give examples of companies and how they use technology, and provide case studies of companies that have used technology successfully. It will review the author's thoughts on how to use VPN in a common workplace. It will then show you how to implement a VPN on a network, through hardware and software installations. You'll see how employees collaborate with this tool and use it to increase productivity. You will see the obstacles you would encounter with a VPN system and how to overcome these obstacles and resolve problems that might arise during daily use. Further in the document, you will see the most popular products available that support VPN and you will also see a price comparison of these products. Towards the end of the document, you will see an estimate that adequately shows the cost of a full implementation in a professional workplace. A virtual private network (VPN) uses public network infrastructure to establish connections between geographically dispersed nodes. It can also be described as a logical local area network that connects the geographically dispersed locations of an organization in a way that makes them appear as part of a single network. A VPN differs from a typical wide area network in the following ways. Instead of a wired pipeline between the nodes of a standard wide area network using a dedicated connection, a VPN's connections are established over a network of cables from a public network such as the Internet. Businesses use a VPN in several ways. A VPN can do everything a leased line WAN can do and more. Businesses connect to geographically distant facilities in a cohesive network. By using the international resources of the Internet, a VPN can provide connectivity virtually anywhere in the world. This allows a business to expand globally. The company uses a VPN for remote access services. Not only is it an extremely cost-effective way to serve a mobile workforce or telecommuters, but it also allows workers to connect to their home office via an Internet Service Provider from anywhere worldwide, via a public Internet..... .middle of paper ......efficient techniques available. This series is “the most feature-rich carrier-grade VPN product line on the market.” $50 to $5,000. The cost of installing a system in a business mainly depends on the size of the business. Small businesses will generally use the least expensive system and large businesses will use the most expensive system. Overall, for a high-quality VPN system, a business would pay around $8,000. This price depends on whether or not the company requires accessories, an upgrade kit, or replacement parts for the system.BibliographyFowler, Dennis 2005. Virtual Private Networks: Making the Right Connections. Morgan Kaufman Publishers, Inc. Tyson, Jeff. “How Virtual Private Networks Work.” Accessed November 4, 2008 http://computer.howstuffworks.com/vpn.htmhttp://nic.phys.ethz.ch/readme/31http://www.cyberguard.com/snapgear/cs20020704.html «Digital Warehouse- Reducing the cost of network infrastructure. Accessed December 5, 2008 www.digitalwarehouse.com