Mobile, traveling and remote workers often have a common need, the ability to access their desktop PCs from beyond the brick-and-mortar environment of a corporate location. Add to that the rising trend of telecommuting, and remote access is a technology that can only grow in demand and that is good news for solution providers looking to capitalize on remote access solutions.

Array Networks is looking to help fuel that growth with Desktop Direct, an appliance-based remote control and access solution that helps to “green” the network by incorporating power saving features, but Array Networks has some serious competition in the remote control market, competition that is not likely to go away anytime soon.

For many, hosted solutions such as LogMeIn or Citrix’s GoToMyPC have been the remote control solutions of choice for desktop PCs. After all, both are sold as a service for a low monthly fee and are very simple to set up and use. What’s more, both companies are channel friendly, allowing partners to resell their services and net recurring revenues.

Array Networks is facing a challenge to garner market share in the PC remote control market. But Desktop Direct is up to the challenge. Desktop Direct’s strengths start to show in organizations where several PCs need to be accessed remotely by several different users. Deployed as a device/software combo, Desktop Direct is installed as an appliance on the internal network - inside the firewall and maintains control of all remote control sessions.

The advantages to a premise-based appliance are many, ranging from increased security to scalability to management. The downsides (and where services succeed) include initial product and integration costs. Even so, Desktop Direct does offer the potential to help an enterprise save a significant amount of money in energy costs and that can be a key selling point for the product.

Desktop Direct is designed to work with internally networked PCs to maximize power savings. A user can shut off their desktop PC and Desktop Direct will handle powering up the PC when remote access is needed. For larger organizations, the savings can be significant – PCs no longer need to be left on 24/7, just in case someone needs to access it remotely.