1. A method comprising: providing a hardware device containing hardware and software for connecting to a remote host application server, the hardware of the hardware device including a memory card reader, a communication initiation protocol proxy, and a bootstrap services component that executes commands to initiate connections and configure system with information read by the memory card reader from a memory card; receiving a memory card into the memory card reader, the memory card containing connectivity and licensing information pertaining to a specific customer and enabling the hardware device to access selected application functions on the remote application server in accordance with the licensing information; upon switching on the hardware for the first time, reading, via the memory card reader, the connectivity and licensing information from the memory card; and establishing virtual private network connections with remote service partners via the communications initiation protocol proxy and based on the connectivity and licensing information read from the memory card and executed at least in part by the bootstrap services component.