Exercise 4-4

4.4.) What role can a VPN play in business-to-business e-commerce?

More and more business is being conducted using the Internet. Electronic commerce is not only a major new method of retailing merchandise (called "B2C" for business-to-consumer e-commerce), but it is also a way for businesses to trade goods and services among themselves (called "B2B" for business-to-business e-commerce). Interconnectivity of businesses is essential, and the Internet is the logical choice for the interconnection technology.
E-commerce must be secure. Private networks use physical separation for security, but it is impractical to have a separate infrastructure for each customer or B2B partner. Therefore, a closed, inflexible private network is not well suited for supporting e-commerce. A public infrastructure is more flexible but lacks security.
VPNs provide both interconnectivity and security.