A service provider provides one or more services to subscribers over a computer network. Each of the subscribers may be a corporation or enterprise having a plurality of users. In some instances, a service provider may provide a virtual private network (VPN) or firewall service to its subscribers, thereby allowing the subscribers to avoid installing and maintaining internal VPN devices. For example, the service provider may provide a set of secure socket layer (SSL) VPN appliances that allow each subscriber to provide secure remote access to employees and customers. The SSL VPN appliances hosted by the service provider provide a scalable platform that allows even large enterprises to offer secure extranet, intranet, and LAN access.
In such an environment, the service provider may utilize a separate network device for each subscriber. Each network device provides a separate operating environment for delivery of a different, customer-specific network service, such as SSL VPN services. Another approach may be to provide multiple operating systems on a single device, where each operating system provides a fully independent operating environment for providing a service to a different subscriber. These approaches, however, suffer from scalability and complexity.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds