Secure virtual private networking over inmarsat packet-based services

This paper presents two solutions for building secure virtual private networks (VPN) over the new pay-per-byte Inmarsat Mobile Packet Data Service (MPDS) and Regional Broadband Global Area Network (RBGAN). Standard VPN tunnels are established to support an IP security overlay subtended by military-grade IP encryption devices. This open approach makes these and other emerging satellite packet-based data services immediately suitable for ad-hoc deployed and mobile military communications, which require ubiquitous access, bandwidth on demand, closed-user-group separation, data security and terminal mobility. These solutions are expected to satisfy the ever-increasing need for augmenting military SATCOM networks with interoperable, easy-to-deploy, high-availability, low-cost commercial systems and services. The paper focuses on two standard tunneling protocols: GRE (Generic Routing Encapsulation) and L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol), here adopted to federate mobile, deployed and fixed hosts over meshed and hub-and-spoke commercial-type VPNs.