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.