The information business era is characterized by the need for a global network of networks — the Internet — for e-commerce, everyday businesses, education, and many other purposes. In a competitive marketplace, business organizations require secure Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity to run their mission critical applications. The emphasis is on an Internet connection that has constant uptime and integrity.

The evolution of advanced technology and the influx of technological products, (routers, switches, cables, modems, to name a few), have all emerged due to the demand for enhanced connectivity options to the Internet combined with speed and security, primarily. In a WAN set up, routers are the devices located at the connecting point of two or more networks (gateways), and enable the forwarding of packets of data on the network. File sharing between multiple computer systems is made possible with the assistance of routers. A WAN connection along with a router VPN (Virtual Private Network) allows Internet access and connectivity within a network from any place in a secure way. Since the critical applications that run across the WANs are crucial for businesses, security is a prime issue. Security WAN is considered as the key towards conducting of businesses over the public communication infrastructure.

A VPN Router (or Router VPN) is a device that provides security and connectivity in a network at various levels. The systems that are configured with an able VPN Router can be deployed for various utilities including dedicated encrypted VPN gateways, firewall protection, and as an IP access for router connections. Security Routers operate by creating a private path for information to be transferred securely. Data packets that are carried forward by routers are encrypted at the sending end and decrypted at the receiving end using VPN technology. This prevents unauthorized users from accessing secure data over the network. A security WAN comes into existence when one establishes a secure and private communication tunnel across a publicly shared network, and interlinking devices to access that information.

VPN technologies improve the performance of WAN applications through securing the network traffic. As a virtual private network, VPNs maintain privacy through its security procedures and tunneling protocols. VPNs support two types of tunneling - A voluntary VPN tunneling where the VPN connection setup is managed by the VPN client, and compulsory VPN tunneling where the VPN connection setup is managed by the network provider. Providing a secure network is the core of VPN technology, which follows certain protocols to accomplish the same. Key secure VPN protocols include IP Security (IP Sec), Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TS), Open VPN, Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol version 3 (L2TPv3), VPN Quarantine, and Multi Path Security (MPSec). Among these, IPSec and MPSec technologies ensure high levels of security and are widely used.

VPN Router technology is a fine solution for gaining secure remote access to networks over the Internet with the use of cutting edge methods such as encryption and authentication. Security routers with complete IPSec Virtual Private Network (VPN) capability provide a platform wherein there is total data privacy for accessing and exchanging crucial information. Most enterprises that have an indispensable need for a secure WAN in order to ensure business continuity employ router VPNs and other such technological appliances to secure their information transactions and protect consumer details, thereby giving them privacy over the network while availing online services. The VPN Router is simple to configure and use. Also, it is compatible with most of the major operating systems and standards.

Although the VPN Router technology offers a secure mode of communication across the WAN, there are still certain security issues that exist. In order to address these issues, the need for superior refined technology becomes a necessity. FatPipe Networks, the innovator and multiple patents holder of router clustering technology, has provided businesses with a comprehensive suite of WAN optimization solutions. FatPipe’s patented MultiPath Virtual Private Network (MPVPN) technology secures VPN data transmissions, dynamically load balancing IPSec traffic over multiple lines and ISPs without the need for BGP programming. The MPSec feature provides an additional level of security of data transmission using its MPSec technology. MPSec will break down data to the packet level and randomly send the packets over the multiple lines for a very high level of security. Hacking and snooping is virtually impossible as the encrypted traffic is sent in pieces and out of order over the VPN, where it is reassembled on the other side by the receiving MPVPN with practically no latency. Businesses thrive when they have strong WAN infrastructures and technologies such as those of FatPipe help them achieve their business goals.

Information Technology, in current times, is improving at an accelerating rate. Technology has enabled an exponential growth in almost all areas of business, well evidenced by the mushrooming of Enterprises, Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs). Innovative applications, powered by advanced technology, have made organizations and individuals more organized, adept, and productive. With businesses largely depending on their Wide Area Networks (WANs) for commerce, information sharing, online services, etc., the necessity for optimizing applications to render maximum performance is imperative.

Routing Optimization has emerged as a significant concept in traffic engineering. It is a dynamic tool that equips network administrators with the ability to route traffic over the data networks efficiently. The process of selecting a network path to direct network traffic is called routing. The objective of optimal routing is distributing the traffic flow evenly over available network resources to avert network congestion and degradation of Quality of Service (QoS). Data networks, both wired and wireless, require optimal routing of network traffic based on different criteria. In wired networks, Routing Optimization is determined by the network connection capacities that are usually given and fixed. Whereas, wireless networks have the flexibility of reallocating communication resources (frequency, time slots, for instance) since the link capacities are not always fixed.

Certain key factors involved in Routing Optimization are Interpreting, phasing, and evaluating requirements. These help in analyzing the requisites, segregating and then enabling optimal routing. Optimal routing on packet switching networks involves forwarding, i.e., the transport of data packets from the source to the intended destination through intermediate nodes such as routers, firewalls, bridges, gateways, and switches. Multiple network cards on computer systems also enable forwarding of data packets along the network and optimize routing performance. In order to perform Routing Optimization, there are many standards used, which includes Routing tables, algorithms, and protocols.

Routing algorithms and techniques that are employed to render optimal routing include multipath routing, policy-based routing, static routing, and QoS in routing, among others. The routing optimization performed based on traditional routing protocols involves forwarding packets of data by hops, on a destination-based method. Research has proven over time, that using multipath routing and the dual-metric concept connections in routing optimization can produce superior results compared to default single-metric routing. Policy-based routing is a popular technique that is employed by large enterprises to monitor and route data traffic over the network. The routing decisions are made based on a set of policies defined by the network administrator. Routing optimization is effectuated when the IP traffic is routed based on specific policies and protocols. For instance, the network administrator has the privilege to specify the type of data that should go over a particular WAN connection. This enables administrators to prioritize, allocate and optimize data transmission over the network. Multipath routing leverages multiple alternative paths through networks and render options such as fault tolerance, maximum bandwidth utilization, and secure connectivity during data transfer.

Technology, which enables optimization of routing performance and consequently better WAN performance are in great demand. Businesses are always looking at enhancing performance and achieving superior end results, for that is a vital key to business continuity. There are a diversified lot of technology solutions providers who render optimization products. A company that stands out in the market place for its suite of WAN optimization solutions is FatPipe Networks. It has created the technology to provide innovative, cost-effective solutions for businesses that require ‘always-up’ availability of their WANs for business continuity, without compromising the integrity or security of data transmissions.

FatPipe is the innovator of router clustering technology and multiple patents holder of technology that provides the highest levels of WAN optimization, reliability, security, and bandwidth management. FatPipe Technology allows multiple and varied connections to ISPs. It takes disparate connections such as DSL, T1, ISDN, T3, Cable Modem, Wireless, ATM etc and dynamically load balances across the lines. It also fails over the network traffic by sensing the active link, when any of the connections fail.

FatPipe’s patented WARP technology solution is for those companies that require high levels of redundancy and availability for their Wide Area Networks. It enables high fault tolerance for WAN infrastructures, and dynamically load balances inbound and outbound data traffic. Advanced product features of WARP include SmartDNS, Policy Routing, Reverse mapping, and Fastest Route, a new load balancing method, which aid in Routing Optimization. WARP’s routing options allow administrators to have greater control over IP traffic delivery. It also enables them to define routing criteria based on application and provider. Routing optimization can thus be effectively carried on with businesses having better control of bi-directional IP traffic.

Our network-reliant world is endowed with a plethora of advanced technological gadgets and applications. The Wide Area Network (WAN) offers plenty of options to gratify the increasingly complex networking needs of a broad business customer base. The advances in technology continue to offer more WAN options. WAN communications efficiency is influenced by two major factors: bandwidth and latency. In order to ensure their effectiveness, various technological choices are analyzed and the best is adopted.

A WAN Port is used to establish a connection to the Internet. A WAN port is the socket present in a networking device, which is wired to the Internet or any such external network. In many cases, large enterprise business applications employ multiple WAN ports that are connected to a T1 line or other WAN connectivity options such as DS3. These WAN ports may make use of a V.35, RS-232 or RS-530 connections. The reason behind utilizing multiple WAN ports or multiple WAN port routers in these large companies is that the core of business operations (Business Continuity) is crucial and necessitates continuous WAN uptime and integrity. In the Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), where inter-networking is used for internal communications, an Ethernet port on the router is connected to a similar port on a cable or DSL modem.

As companies of all sizes became increasingly reliant on WANs to conduct business operations, the need arose for more than one WAN connection in order to avoid network outages. Dual WAN connections and subsequently multiple WAN connections brought about a radical change in the WAN application business scenario. Multiple WAN connections can yield continuous connectivity and ensure speed if they are connected by a router-clustering device, or something similar. They enabled ‘always on’ connectivity, which guaranteed business continuity in enterprises and other organizations.

Multiple WAN Ports and connections improve WAN performance across applications and provide redundancy in connectivity to the Internet. Wide Area Network throughput is also considerably increased with Router multiple WAN IP, which aggregates network traffic.

In the networking structure, the role of routers, switches, ports, and other hardware devices is indispensable. While a router is committed to the task of routing messages between an internal network and the Internet, a dual port WAN Router (or Router dual port WAN) combines two WAN connections and one LAN connection, routing and forwarding data to both internal and external networks. Generally, a WAN Router forwards data packets to an outside network like the Internet. A Router dual port WAN is used by companies to connect two T1 Internet data lines concurrently. It also offers functionality such as basic load balancing, line failover, and several custom routing rules. However, a drawback is that router dual port WAN require BGP programming, which is complex. A dual port WAN Router also is a single point of failure; should the router fail, all connectivity will be shut down. These encumbrances can be overcome by using superior technology developed by innovators in WAN optimization technology such as FatPipe Networks.

Using Router multiple WAN IP yields many advantages over a conventional single WAN connection, as well as a dual port WAN Router. In addition, it is possible to have enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) settings, which will enable granular bandwidth allocation control over services that should get priority when the network traffic is high.

Another solution for businesses is to utilize a Multi WAN port solution. A Multi WAN port device is one that is connected to multiple WAN connections from the same or separate ISPs. Employing a multiple WAN port router or a FatPipe router clustering device is advantageous since it can considerably clear network traffic and route specific data through disparate WAN connections. Basic features of a FatPipe router clustering device include dynamic load balancing of inbound and outbound traffic, QoS, and Virtual Private Network (VPN)/IPSec capabilities. The Demilitarized zone (DMZ), virus filter on content, Web content filter, and Intrusion detection, and all other web applications are ably supported by multi WAN port routers and router clustering devices.

Load balancing is a well-known feature of multiple WAN port routers and other multiple WAN port devices, where network traffic can be diligently managed. Network congestion is avoided as a multi WAN port router effectively routes network traffic to the external network. This brings about maximum bandwidth utilization and also effectuates outbound traffic aggregation, which is crucial for superior connectivity.

One of the few leading-edge solutions providers, FatPipe Networks, provides a comprehensive suite of WAN optimization solutions via its multi Port Router design of its router clustering devices. FatPipe offers a broad range of products that can equip businesses with high levels of WAN optimization, reliability, security, and bandwidth management. While a multiple WAN port Router can connect multiple WANs, FatPipe technology enables varied connections to ISPs. FatPipe devices can take disparate connections and perform dynamic load balancing and failover functions. FatPipe technology can intelligently sense the active link, when a line is down due to WAN component, line or service failure, and then route the network traffic in that direction. FatPipe devices do not use BGP programming. They ensure redundancy, reliability, and speed, which are the crucial components for companies to meet their business continuity standards.

As business use of the Internet keeps increasing, there is growing demand for optimized performance of Wide Area Networks (WANs). Many technological concepts have emerged in the recent past, which improve WAN infrastructure and devices that carry forward the task of enhancing connectivity. One such device is the Dual WAN Router Firewall.

The communication barriers found across WANs cause restrictions on application performance. Three major issues that give rise to these performance constraints: are inadequate WAN bandwidth, latency, and limited WAN resources. These issues should be addressed in order to accelerate WAN performance and ensure business continuity. Employing technology solutions and devices such as routers, switches, and enhanced features like multiple WAN connections, failover, Dual-WAN Router Firewall, etc. aid in strengthening WANs.

A Dual WAN Router Firewall is a combination of two wide area network connections with a firewall functionality. The router functionality improves the utility of this device. To elucidate the basic terms, a WAN Router is a network device, which forwards data packets to an external network. While there are routers that function within the internal network, WAN routers direct Internet traffic externally. In this context, a Dual WAN Router is defined as one that aggregates two wide area network connections and one LAN connection and forwards and routes information to internal as well as external networks. The firewall functionality is an added feature to this combination and hence a 2 WAN Router Firewall is essentially an indispensable application in businesses.

Almost all businesses deploy WANs and expect high performance in order to meet their everyday business goals. Most of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) invariably make use of the 2 WAN Router Firewall for reliable, secure, and redundant connectivity. This technology allows connectivity between two different ISPs and the same firewall resulting in a secure LAN and failover capabilities. With businesses relying on the robustness of WANs for end-to-end network performance and high availability, there is a need for superior technology devices that can offer continuous ‘uptime’ amidst failures. FatPipe Networks is a technology solutions provider specializing in WAN optimization solutions. Over the years, these products have morphed as effective alternatives to the more cumbersome 2 WAN Router Firewall or other such technology. Although a 2 WAN Router Firewall provides redundant, secure connectivity with failover and load balancing options, large businesses demand high-end performance solutions for their core of operations and business continuity.

A Dual WAN Router Firewall or the Dual WAN Firewall Router helps to manage IP traffic and routes data packets to the intended destination based on priority. In the event of any disruptions in one dataline, the system fails over to the next active link. Since there are two WAN connections, it is possible to have continuous uptime. A 2 WAN Firewall Router can be used to the fullest, provided supporting technology devices are used. Large enterprises use multiple wide area network connections over a Dual WAN Router Firewall as the former steers clear of network congestion and is redundant. Emerging as the one-stop solution provider for WAN optimization, FatPipe Networks stays ahead with superior product offerings that ensure business continuity.

FatPipe Networks revolutionized the market about a decade back, with its Enterprise class solutions. FatPipe devices can take multiple wide area network connections and dynamically load balance inbound and outbound IP traffic. Its patented MPSec technology enables this expert technology and also provides ease of handling. Load balancing and automatic failover capabilities strengthen the WAN infrastructure and increase the efficiency of WAN, ultimately accelerating the business operations of companies with high availability.