Setting up and managing an in-house remote access service (RAS) for mobile and home workers has become so complex that South African network managers are turning to outsourced managed solutions for relief.
That`s according to Mark Hamburger, RAS product manager at IS, Dimension Data`s communications infrastructure subsidiary, who says in-house systems are too costly to run, maintain and scale, are liable to security breaches, and fail to deliver quality of service.
"Demand for remote access to corporate networks is growing rapidly as more people work from home or travel extensively. Network managers find it difficult to anticipate demand and have to continuously increase facilities and are now asking for protection against IT/technology obsolescence required to run solutions in mission critical RAS environment," he says.
And if regional remote access is required, infrastructure has to be duplicated and supported at numerous sites. The alternative is long distance phone charges to head office-based systems, an extremely expensive alternative.
Hamburger, who is responsible for the launch of a new IS product for outsourced remote access solution called Virtual Remote Access Services (V-RAS), claims these problems are negated by the benefits of remote access - enabling home working with easy access to corporate network facilities and reducing the need for building infrastructure as staff spend more time out of the office, at home, at customers and travelling.
"A solution like V-RAS addresses all in-house headaches. If remote user number grow from five one day to 50 the next and back down to 30, we have the capacity and flexibility to handle it," he says.
In addition, because of economies of scale, the redundancy built into the V-RAS service cannot be matched, without significant investment, by an in-house facility. If an in-house RAS box falls over, there is rarely backup available. IS`s V-RAS has significant built-in redundancy, built upon IS` enterprise strength network and encompassed by the "i comes before e" motto , meaning that you must first have the correct infrastructure, before you can enable electronic business.
"Similarly, instead of a company having to establish duplicate branch facilities or pay long distance charges, we have 17 POPs nationally, which means a local call to access the network," Hamburger adds.
IS has also formed overseas partnerships to provide low cost international remote access. These links, totalling some 1 600 POPs, are currently being tested and service rollout is imminent.
V-RAS implements state-of-the-art security technology over and above that normally found in an in-house facility. This includes L2TP tunnelling, IPSEC standards and end-user authentication, including one-time passwords, to ensure maximum security.
Quality of service is also a feature of V-RAS with Service Level Agreements guaranteeing availability, latency and minimum packet losses.
"Finally, V-RAS obviates the threat of technology lock-in. For example last year`s state of the art V.34 access servers and modems are already outdated. This makes buying or leasing RAS equipment a high-risk venture. By outsourcing, companies can eliminate this risk and insulate themselves from technology," Hamburger concludes.
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