Computer hardware and software for facilitating, establishing, maintaining and controlling virtual private network connections to applications

DATA COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT, NAMELY, APPLICATION SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, ie, ASICs, ADAPTERS, PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS, AND COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE INCORPORATING ONE OR BOTH OF ENCRYPTION OR COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE SECURITY AND EFFICIENCY OF WIDE-AREA NETWORKS, ie, WANs, AND LOCAL-AREA NETWORKS, ie LANs