Mike has tapped into the world of VPNs. He tested an array of products a few months ago (www.NetworkComputing.com./820/820f1.html), and is working on a review of IPSec products (for an upcoming issue). But this issue's cover story, an RFP for VPNs (page 38), has been a most meaningful endeavor.

More and more, you're being asked to solve business problems, like cutting costs by connecting remote sites via the Internet. We asked vendors to provide solutions that included the products and services to create a VPN between sites and remote users over various topologies and between countries. We asked them for pricing, their stance on emerging VPN standards, consultation on export laws and a breadth of services, such as security auditing, risk assessment and service-level agreements. This ain't catching flies with chopsticks.

If Mike was looking to the East for enlightenment, Dan Backman, a technology editor who covered authentication services in our Syracuse University lab, was looking West. He moved to our San Mateo, Calif., lab last month. Judy Boardman, an assistant and researcher in Syracuse, forwarded this helpful guide to Nathalie Mendoza, our West Coast administrative assistant:

· Do not schedule vendor meetings on "South Park" night.

· Keep candy handy. If anyone is trying to sell candy for sports teams or scouts, bring the entire box and just leave it where Dan can see it. Easy sale.

· Fashion police. You may be called on from time to time for a fashion check on color coordination. I suggest you grin and nod.

· Keep him on his toes. You can count on Dan to be ever the gentleman, so if you really want to watch him squirm, mention that he has spinach between his teeth.

Dan's first project in San Mateo was testing RA-DIUS servers (page 78). Cisco sent this explanation for its absence in the review: "The reason partially is that RADIUS is only half the solution, and TACACS+ is not being tested [sic]. In addition, they have some resource issues in supporting the review. Also factoring into this is the heightened sensitivity within this group regarding competitive testing."

Uh, anything else? You didn't like Dan's choice in clothes? Your "resources" could only come on "South Park" night?

A Microsoft product manager sent Dan its RADIUS product. But when we called Microsoft later to get additional product information, the same product manager was dumbfounded that his product was in the review, and pulled out. Perhaps he only remembered giving the product to East Coast Dan.

Dave Molta, the IT director at Syracuse University, and a man whose children's entire baseball fundraisers consisted of tapping into Dan, sent along this parting shot:

"Dan drops by my office this morning to say goodbye. We chatted for a few minutes, commenting that after six years in Syracuse, this was sort of like his real graduation. He mentioned that he had a flight to catch, so we shook hands and he left. A few minutes later, the fire alarm started ringing, something that happens fairly often about this time of year as students bid their final farewell to good old SU. Now I'm not suggesting that it was Dan who pulled the alarm, but the latency between his departure and the ringing of that alarm might lead to that conclusion."

Perhaps Dan was just authenticating on his way out.

--Fritz Nelson, fnelson@nwc.com