There are many theories about why dinosaurs became extinct. But when historians look back at the demise of the virtual private network (VPN), no guesses will be needed. It will be clear that the advent of cloud computing, combined with the increasing reliance on mobile devices, was the Big Bang (News - Alert) that resulted in the extinction of VPNs.
When asked which technology trendwill have the biggest impact on their company, 41 percent of respondents to a recent LinkedIn survey noted that it was cloud computing. Mobile technology came in second in the survey, with 25 percent. But it’s the snowball effect created by these two trends that is making the VPN obsolete. Greater use of cloud solutions is giving more employees the opportunity to access corporate resources remotely through their iPhones, iPads, and Android (News - Alert)-based smartphones and tablets. With mobility driving worker productivity, enterprises are looking at even more cloud services to support new and innovative use cases, which then spur even greater use of mobile technology. And that snowball will keep gaining steam until client-based VPNs become completely obsolete.
With enterprise employees relying heavily on mobile technology to improve their productivity anywhere and at any time, the cloud – not the VPN – is becoming the preferred way for them to access the applications and information they need to do their work. This trend is resulting in the redefinition of corporate boundaries and VPNs playing a far less prominent role for employees who work outside the traditional office confines... Read More
