Providing SOHO/Teleworker
Connectivity
The traditional teleworker solution consists of a virtual private network
(VPN) client on the user’s computer connecting over the Internet to a VPN
concentrator, firewall, or Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) at the
corporate site. This requires only a dialup or broadband Internet connection
and a dialup or broadband modem. However, this approach has several
shortcomings:
■ Dialup does not provide the necessary bandwidth to take advantage of
all the corporate services, such as Voice over IP (VoIP).
■ There is no centralized control of the teleworker equipment, so security,
virus protection, and so forth are left to the teleworker to implement.
■ There is no control over quality of service (QoS) for advanced services.
■ It is hard for corporate IT staff to support.
The Cisco Business-Ready Teleworker Solution addresses these issues with
the traditional teleworker approach. It seeks to secure corporate data by
using IPsec VPNs, allow corporate control of the connection components,
and provide a scalable architecture as part of disaster planning. It consists of
an always-on broadband connection, a corporate-owned and -managed router
configured for VPN and QoS, IP phone, and (optionally) video equipment.
Two typical broadband connection types are digital subscriber line (DSL)
and cable.