Secure remote access, business continuity: Key themes to be addressed at Citrix iForum

Today`s high-intensity and result-driven economy means that no business, from the smallest to the largest, can tolerate security risks or technology downtime, says Nick Black, senior systems engineer at Citrix South Africa who will present at the annual Citrix iForum Gauteng conference at Vodaworld on 24 July.

Citrix`s market-leading access infrastructure solutions not only give mobile workers access to productivity applications while on the road, but are also the cornerstone of any risk management solution, helping ensure businesses can recover from even the largest service interruptions.

"In today`s on-demand enterprise, providing secure remote access is a key element, allowing all users access to a range of heterogeneous applications on nearly any device from anywhere in the world, and at any time," says Black.

"However," warns Black, "as users become increasingly mobile the security risks increase proportionally using typical remote solutions. Security is a key component of the Citrix offering and is seen as an enabler to the entire suite of access infrastructure solutions."

At the heart of the Citrix MetaFrame Access Suite are two key components: Citrix MetaFrame Secure Access Manager 2.0 and Citrix MetaFrame Password Manager 2.0. MetaFrame Secure Access Manager gives all users personalised Web-based access to enterprise resources and applications no matter where they are in the world. With Citrix MetaFrame Password Manager - which will be launched later this year and will also be featured at Citrix iForum Gauteng - single sign-on gives users access to all resources made available to them without having to remember passwords for every server or service they need to access.

"All secure remote access solutions require multiple levels of security to ensure that transmissions, which may be from a PDA, a laptop or even a public access terminal such as an Internet cafe, cannot be intercepted," says Black. "With the MetaFrame Access Suite, users have a combination of up to four levels of authentication and two possible levels of encryption securing all transmissions, making it very difficult for anyone to intercept or break into the communication," says Black.

The Citrix model also means that no data is stored on the device, says Black. "This means that if the device is stolen or lost, sensitive data is not lost along with it."

The Citrix Client for Java application that can be used in public spaces or on borrowed devices is also built with security in mind. The Java client, which is automatically downloaded when a Citrix client-side application is not present, runs in RAM only and is erased as soon as the session is over. "Because the Java client is downloaded into RAM, not even passwords are stored on the device and all traces are removed when the session is over," he says.

Besides the security aspect, he says, for businesses threatened by political instability and unstable infrastructure, Citrix is an increasingly important part of a workable business continuity solution and is a key component of a risk management strategy for enterprises.

"Businesses in SA are aware of the risks posed to their viability by external threats. However, simply having a data backup offsite is only part of a workable solution," says Black. "Data is all but useless without an access method."

With Citrix, he says, businesses are able to prepare for everything from regional power failures to political attacks to fires. In the worst possible case, when entire buildings and equipment are destroyed, users can log onto their productivity applications running on failover (or redundant) Citrix servers from a disaster recovery centre or even from home using a home PC. Citrix also negates the need for costly private secure networks, says Black.

"With Citrix, organisations can conduct secure transactions over the public Internet. And in countries such as SA, where bandwidth is costly, the ability to leverage the Internet is a key business enabler."

For more information on Citrix iForum Gauteng, visit www.citrixiforum.co.za. Citrix iForum Gauteng will feature an exhibition area, and sessions will include presentations from senior international and local speakers, as well as Citrix customers, throughout the day. The conference will have breakout sessions, ideal for network managers, systems engineers, CIOs and senior decision-makers: these are divided into business and technical strands. Sessions will focus on mobility, business continuity, security, integration and IT administration, demonstrating how specific business and technical issues can be overcome and illustrating the benefits that can be gained by implementing Citrix technology.