Connecting to the office from home

It is becoming increasingly popular to have access to the office network from home. As job responsibilities increase and small businesses try accomplish more with less people, workers will find it convenient to ‘remote in’ from home or other places outside of the office.

There are many providers out there that offer ways to get connected to your office pc. If you have a stationary desktop computer at the office, services like gotomypc.com and logmein.com will install software that allows you to log in from a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.).

When logging in, you can access files, run programs, and utilize printing as if you were sitting at the desktop. All of these communications are made secure as the information travels from your home pc to the office pc across the Internet.

Setting up these types of services is pretty simple. From the computer you want to access from home, go to the preferred web site and set up an account. You will be instructed to install the necessary software to run the service.

Afterward, you can access the same web site on your home pc and it will walk you through connecting to your office pc.

For the larger installation or offices where you have multiple users that need access from remote, Windows Terminal Services and Citrix Server is a widely used solution.

These programs run on a single server (or multiple if you have a large network) and allow users to have remote access to critical applications.

This technology is also used for companies that require branch office connectivity. The system allows several users to connect to the same machine and use a ‘virtual desktop’ to access programs, files, and other resources.

Another nice benefit is that all of the above services can be utilized for telecommuters. As traffic increases and the amount of office space decreases, companies are finding remote access servers a viable part of their technology strategy.

Check with your technology provider for demonstrations on these services. You will see an increase in production by utilizing remote access services.