VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a way of extending a private network across a public network, like the internet to create a larger wide area network. And a shared VPN will provide this to a company without the expense and complexity of  maintaining its own infrastructure.

From a user’s standpoint information is accessed across the network as if it were all a private network. The chief advantage of a VPN is that companies can share information seamlessly across a large geographic area as if it were all in one location.

By using a shared VPN configuration, a company can  rely on their hosting company to monitor the security and reliability of the network.