Why would we need a private network for our offices?

We currently have a private network to connect our outer offices using Citrix. My plan is to get rid of Citrix and go to Terminal Services. We are currently paying anywhere from $600 to $1600 per month for each location to have this private network. We are only gettin 256kbps from them. Why wouldnt I use teminal services and go with a local internet company offering 6megs for $39.95 per month per location? I am really confused. I spoke to the local internet providers and it is available in the outlying locations. Can someone shed some light on this?

The short answer is that you are getting ripped off by Citrix. They automate the process of creating a VPN between your offices, providing security and encryption, true. However, it comes at an exhorbitant cost and does nothing that you can't do on your own for free.

A very simple solution, that provides all the security benefits you need, is a router to router VPN. Even a relatively simple business-class router is capable of this, without the Citrix cost and overhead. The process is very simple (if you know what you're doing). Each remote location has a router that is configured to create a VPN with your home office. The home office router has matching credentials to each remote router, creating a persistent, secure VPN with the home office as the hub. Done correctly, this will create a "virtual LAN", where each office will be directly linked with the home office (and each other if you wish). As far as the computers are concerned (file and printer sharing, etc.) they will think they are all in the same building. With cheap, high-speed links now available and paying some moderate attention to data transfer across the links, you should have a WAN that acts like a LAN.

Your hardware costs at each location would be much less than you pay Citrix each month and, once configured, your only cost is internet access.

There's no need for terminal services (and the license fees associated with each user) unless your existing hardware/software environment already requires terminal services.

We could tell you exactly how to do this. Heck, we could even preconfigure all the routers with the proper IP addresses, routing schemes, etc. and ship them to you. All you'd have to do is plug them in.

The private network you are using is secure. No one else can use it to attempt to access your outer offices. If you use a regular ISP connection, it is not secure. That does not mean that you can't do it though. If you encrypt the data using firewalls or something similar and have a secure way to authenticate to the other places using terminal services than it should work. You also need to make sure you understand the licensing of Terminal Services.

There is also the possibility that this will cost you money in the long run. If your employees get 6Meg Internet access how likely are they to spend more time downloading movies and using Y!A?