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The current H1N1 virus scare (Swine Flu) is driving the need for companies to be flexible in allowing employees the ability to work from home if the pandemic continues to worsen. Available technologies such as remote access secured by VPN (Virtual Private Networking) provide the capability to offer this to remote workers.

Many major corporations already have remote access services in place to help their field service personnel access company resources. So the first thing to do is to contact your IT department to find out if this capability already exists in your company.

Company requirements. The methods available to companies to begin to allow access to their systems via high-speed Internet vary. Opening up a port and adding a VPN tunnel into the business is the first step. Then, you need to determine what interface will be used. A popular way is to allow desktop access via a software solution such as GoToMyPC. Microsoft Windows operating systems have Remote Desktop Connection built in to them and provide similar functionality.

This would allow employees to connect to their desktop PC from their PC at home, and be able to work just like they were sitting at their desk. They would not have to install any of the applications on their home equipment, plus email settings and drive mappings would all be intact.

Another scenario involving remote access includes users who have a laptop that they take home or on the road with them. Chances are there already exist Internet connections for these users at these locations, and since their applications are probably already installed on their laptop, they would not have a need for a remote desktop software connection, but instead rely on their remote access capabilities to work with data and files at the home office.

Employee requirements. What does a remote employee need to have access to? Three things generally fall into this category: email, files and applications. These could all be accessed via the remote connections mentioned above. The only potential challenge would be local printing. But, since current trends and attitudes shy away from unnecessary printing, the best thing to do would be to keep documents in the digital realm and manage them appropriately.

Since these applications would all be running on the user's PC that is located at the office, there would be no bottle-neck in speed. The PC at the work site would operate like normal, and the appropriate live screen image would be sent back to the PC at home.

Laptop users have somewhat more of a challenge, even with a very fast high-speed Internet connection and good VPN software. This results from the need for the local applications on the laptop to access data and files at the office over the Internet connection, which slows things down. The amount of slowdown depends upon what is being accessed, but if it is large data files such as databases, spreadsheets, publishing documents, etc., the speed difference will be noticeable and might prevent the use of them altogether. In these situations, what works on a PC at home also works on a laptop on the road, and Windows Remote Desktop Connection or 3rd-party desktop sharing software would be a good option for the user.

It matters little what the driving force is in allowing employees to work from home. If the capability to work remotely is available and it benefits the company, then it will be promoted and used. It may also help in reducing the spread of biological viruses, and promote environmental responsibility by reducing the frequency that users drive in to the office to perform their work functions.

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