IN THIS ISSUE
Guide to Pandemic Planning
Is you business prepared to deal with an influenza pandemic?
Secure Access for Roaming Users
Netforce's 3G solution provides your users secure access directly into the private network.
Access to your network over the Internet - Secure VPNs
Connecting your remote users to your network via a Secure VPN.
Solution Spotlight - Cisco & WatchGuard VPN devices
We profile two solutions which can deliver your team VPN access to your network.
Virtual Desktops - Remote Access to applications
When your remote access needs depend on users accessing large files, and "data heavy" applications, you may need to investigate implementing a virtual desktop solution.
Managing PCs and Laptops remotely
New remote management tools make it simple to manage and support remote users.
Benefits of Teleworking
Increasing the flexibility and accessibility of your network can deliver many business benefits.
|  | |  With careful planning, technology can liberate us from needing to come into the office to do our work. We want to be able to work when the kids are asleep, when we are inspired and especially now, when we are not sure if we are at risk of spreading or catching the flu.
Each day, the media keeps us alert to the fact that the threat of Swine flu is not over. It has not developed into a full scale pandemic but at the same time, there is the fear that the virus could mutate and develop into something more serious this season or the next or the next.
As leaders and IT Managers within our respective businesses, the Swine flu and the fear of illness draws our attention directly to business continuity plans. Imagine 30 to 50 per cent of your staff away at the peak of a pandemic – how would your business cope? IT has a key role in pandemic planning, and one of the key factors is keeping your staff connected during a time when many of them are not at work. This issue of the Netforce Guide focuses on the different technologies which deliver your staff access to your network when they are at home, on the move, or working from a remote location, whilst maintaining the security and integrity of the network.
If you are already down the road towards meeting other goals such as disaster planning, data backup & recovery, supporting a teleworker environment, reducing the cost of managing your IT and reducing the carbon footprint of IT (e.g. use of remote monitoring or management tools), then you may well have much of the infrastructure and processes in place to support your organisation’s pandemic plan.
Speak to any parent whose child has had to stay at home because of a quarantine situation at school and they will tell you about the difficulty of choosing to stay at home and falling behind with work or coming to the office to work but potentially spreading illness. In putting together this issue of the Netforce Guide, I ponder on the benefits that organisations provide to the well-being of staff by delivering technology the enables your people to stay connected with their colleagues and allows them to best manage illness.
Technology should give you and your staff options to stay away and work until it feels safe enough to come in. If the option is there, staff can access the tools available to be productive. That is a win-win.
Happy Reading.
Debra Lee
General Manager
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