Abstract: A method for deploying a product through multiple phases includes defining work streams for deploying the product, where each work stream is defined for a set of components of a client environment. For each work stream and for each phase, a set of predefined tasks are identified for the phase, a computer processor gathers for the phase a set of instruments specific to the work stream for performing the set of predefined tasks, and the set of instruments are stored in a data repository of a deployment framework. The set of predefined tasks for the phase is common amongst the work streams.

Abstract: A network-communication method includes detecting network activity between a local area network and a wide area network, decoding the network activity, responsive to the decoding step, obtaining at least a source network address, and using the source network address to establish a transparent networking bridge between the local area network and the wide area network.