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Auerbach Publications © 2001 CRC Press LLC 08/01 connection associated with the user’s system and the modem, each working together to become the signal termination point and assuming all the responsibilities that are associated with providing the connection. As with many communication technologies (especially with regards to modem-based remote access), a termination point must be supplied to provide the connection to the remote devices or modems. With dial-up solutions, a modem (virtual or physical) is supplied for the remote sys- tem to dial into and establish communications. A similar requirement ex- ists for broadband, whether for cable modems or xDSL technologies: a termination point must be supplied to create a connection for the remote devices at the home or office. The termination point at the core — with regards to the adoption of VPNs — has become one of the differentiating factors between broadband and modems. To provide remote dial-up access for employees, a single modem could be installed in a server — or workstation for that matter — and a phone line attached. The remote user could be supplied with a mo- dem, the phone number, and the use of some basic software; a connection could be established to provide ample access to the system and services. In contrast, broadband implementations are more complicated and considerably more expensive; thus, today, only service providers imple- ment this type of technology. An example is Internet cable service; not too many companies have access to the cable infrastructure to build their own internal remote access solution. Currently broadband is not being used for point-to-point remote access solutions. Therein lies the funda- mental appeal of VPNs: a way to leverage this advanced communication technology to access company resources. Not only is the huge increase in speed attractive because some of the application requirements may be too great for the limited bandwidth pro- vided by modems, but the separation of the technology from the com- puter allows for a simplified and scalable integration. Under these circumstances, broadband is extremely attractive for accessing corporate resources. It is one thing to have broadband for high-speed Internet browsing and personal excursions, but it is another to have those same capabilities for business purposes. Unfortunately, as described earlier, broadband technologies are complex and infeasible for a nonservice pro- vider organization to implement for internal use. The result is a high- speed communication solution that currently only provides Internet ac- cess — that is, until that advent of VPNs. EXTENDED  ACCESS As communication capabilities increased and companies continued to in- tegrate Internet activities in everyday procedures, the creation of VPN technology to merge the two was critical. Dial-up access to the Internet and broadband provide access to the Internet from nearly anywhere and