AT&T says it wants to make IP VPN services available to all customers, including those using broadband cable services. But the company, which has spent nearly $100 billion during the past few years to build a cable network empire, claims its plan is encumbered by other cable providers that restrict business traffic over their networks.

AT&T is testing its cable IP VPN service in just two markets claiming that so-called acceptable use policies (AUP) from other cable providers are forcing it to move slowly. An AUP, similar to an ISP's "terms of service," outlines rules for using a provider's cable modem Internet access service.

Caught in the middle are network executives who want ubiquitous access to corporate IP VPNs, regardless of whether end users are served by cable modem, DSL or other access services.

"We have been looking at using cable and DSL to link up employees with the high-speed service that's available in their area," says Rich Gay, IS director at Linbeck Construction in Houston, which is in the midst of an IP VPN migration. "The cable companies are still clueless about what customers really need."

While users with cable modem services at up to 1M bit/sec may want to link to their corporate networks from home, cable providers have varying levels of restrictions that either dissuade or prevent the practice.

AT&T's legal department says AUPs from companies such as Comcast Online Communications, Cox Communications and even MediaOne (which AT&T Broadband owns) will prevent AT&T from rolling out an IP VPN cable service as a bundled offering, as it would like to. Instead, AT&T plans to offer the service where users will order their own cable modem Internet access and AT&T will provide the VPN support, says Jonathan Cohen, director of advanced IP network services at AT&T. By having users order cable service on their own, the question of AUP violation is not on AT&T's shoulders.

"Managed IP services over a cable network are at least another 18 months to two years away," says Michael Paxton, senior analyst at Cahners In-Stat Group. "Most cable modem users today are Web surfers, at least 95%."

That means fewer than 100,000 cable modem customers are using the service for business purposes.

And that's not likely to change any time soon, especially when companies such as Comcast make it more difficult.

Last year, Comcast changed its AUP, which now forbids VPN access on its @Home cable Internet access service.

"The policy shows a lack of understanding about how people need to access VPNs," says John Lawler, an analyst at Infonetics Research. The company should set bandwidth restrictions for customers, not application limits, he says.

But Comcast defends its position.

"People were using our service for commercial applications and it's a residential service," says Suzanne McFadden, national director of marketing for Comcast. The company was tipped off by customers calling into Comcast's support centers with questions about accessing VPNs, but claims that less than 1% of its customers were accessing VPNs.

"We didn't anticipate people would use

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