A Distributed System

Are corporations using VPNs in order to transfer private data between nodes, say arcoss a country like Canada. Does anyone know about the design of distributed systems?

For example I work for a corporation that has sites in three provinces in Canada, spanning coast to coast. How would I go about networking? I know this is a huge topic. I have a 1000 page text but it's for a later college term. Just wondering about it.

connecting computers that far apart? hmm... it should work. just use the internet to research into the topic. vpn sounds like a good place to start

Of course they are. All that is needed is access to the internet and then VPN on both ends. It makes a secure tunnel between endpoints.