The work place has changed. The clichéd nine to five is looking like an endangered species. Why waste time trekking into town during rush-hour when you could work at home? Why work at home when you could work on a beach - in a foreign country? An increasing number of workers are realising that they could do some, or even all, of their work elsewhere.
Remote access is a critical part of IT infrastructure
Nowadays remote access is more than just a convenience for senior managers to occasionally check their email and has become a critical part of IT infrastructure.
With increasing costs of office space and of actually getting into town, remote access can be a real cost saving tool also. People often need the time to work at home with no distractions but retaining all the IT facilities the office provides.
Many workers, such as sales teams, spend long periods of time out of the office and it essential that they have access to email, or connect from their laptop to the office network, to download sales materials, and to upload documents for use by others.
There are many ways to provide remote access for all kinds of workers, and these vary in functionality, convenience, security and cost.
ISN Solutions has had extensive experience delivering remote access. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet product that will fit all, so over the years we have compiled a portfolio of the technologies that are proven, and that address all the security questions that remote access poses.
Typical remote access scenarios...
- Fixed location remote worker solutions
- On the road mobile worker solutions
- Handheld Email and wireless PDA access solutions
- Remote access from 3rd party networks (i.e. contractor)
- Remote access using foreign computers
...and some typical technical solutions:
- Citrix and Windows TS application delivery
- IPSEC or SSL based VPN
- Multi factor authentication systems
- International roaming systems
- Blackberry and ActiveSync PDA email integration