Long-Distance IP Communication Options

Hi Everyone,

We're about to have a situation where we'll have an iSeries in one
location and a handful of users doing data entry and printing at another
location several thousand miles away (all within continental US). I
believe that all the remote devices can be set up with IP (that's being
confirmed), and so I think the only communication protocol we'll need will
be IP. (If it turns out that SNA is necessary, I know that will add a
wrinkle to this.) I think it's possible that we'll also  have some sort of
PC network connection between the two sites (NetWare), but I'm not sure
about that.

We're not going into this blind, but given that things seem to change all
the time I thought it might be helpful to find out how others are handling
similar situations. As I understand it, we have three basic options:
private phone line between the two locations (probably a fractional T1);
public connection over the internet (no, we don't want to do that :-); or
VPN. I'm ruling out frame relay because we don't expect a lot of traffic,
and of course my boss wants to go for a low-cost solution.

Are there any other options that we might want to look at? Does anyone
have any comments about good/bad ways to go? I'd appreciate any advice
anyone wants to share -- either on the list or privately.

Thanks very much!

Mike Naughton
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Judd Wire, Inc.
124 Turnpike Road
Turners Falls, MA  01376
413-863-4357 x444
mnaughton@xxxxxxxxxxxx