When Avon is calling for remote connectivity - Avon Products

Communications News, Feb, 1995 by Bruce Teichman

To Avon Products, the world's leading direct seller and marketer of beauty products, networking is our business. We are a $4 billion company that relies on an extensive, worldwide network of 1.7 million independent Avon representatives to spread the word to women in more than 100 countries.

Recruiting, hiring and creating successful associate relationships is the lifeline to our continued global success. We rely on our human resources departments to carry out the training, compensation and benefit programs that support associates. Headquartered in New York City, we have seven satellite human resources departments scattered throughout the United States.

An application used within human resources is a DOS database, called Salary Administration System (SAS), which aids salary planning for all U.S.-based associates. Because this database application is a centralized system, outside departments had difficulty trying to access this mission-critical application.

They needed access to the database we have here, but we couldn't give them copies because it's a centralized system. We needed to find a way for them to dial in and connect.

We called on Citrix Systems and WinView for Networks application server software to provide our satellite human resources departments with efficient and economical access to the centralized database application in New York.

Some of the alternatives considered included traditional remote control packages, clustered CPU hardware and remote node software. Remote control software allows a remote PC or terminal to capture a networked PC and control it.

This type of solution requires one dedicated PC for every dial-in line supported. We quickly realized that this method of remote access into the NetWare network would be cost-prohibitive, since it required that we line up 10 individual systems for each dial-in line.

We also found the clustered CPU solution to be costly as well. Clustered CPU products provide a hardware platform for standalone remote control software. These "PCs on a card" appear to be complete PCs to remote control software.

Each board features one or more onboard computers that appear to be individual PCs to Netware. The number of remote users is limited by the number of available slots in the file server, bridge or expansion chassis. While the amount of hardware is reduced (compared to remote control software), it is replaced by hardware that is not industry standard.

Remote node products were also evaluated. These products provide remote access to the LAN by extending the entire underlying network support out to the remote client.

If applications used remotely must be loaded from the network's file server or if large amounts of networked data, such as database information, must be accessed, remote node solutions suffer from performance problems.

Before we set up a remote access standard for our human resources department in September 1993, we were forced to take the database and chop it up it, dividing it between what the users needed at each of the seven locations. This information was copied onto floppy disks and mailed out to each site. This solution didn't last long. This database is fed by our mainframe and updated weekly, so changes could not get back out to the field on a timely basis.

The difference between information availability then and now is like night and day.

Unlike traditional network applications, which reside in and execute on client workstations, application server software provides server-based processing for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS applications. Based around a client/server architecture, called Distributed Presentation Management, the entire application program is loaded and executed on the application server, while only compressed screen images are transmitted between the client workstation and application server.

As a result, high speed is achieved over low bandwidth connections.

In its simplest form, application servers address both the communication and application needs of remote/mobile LAN users. In its more advanced configurations, however, they facilitate the deployment and management of Windows applications, and provide the flexibility and functionality to meet a whole host of other PC-LAN problems.

One such problem, experienced by our human resources departments, was most recently resolved through the use of application server software. The human resources department has one LAN connected to a wide area network to provide access to another database application.

Accessing this database across a WAN T1 connection was a dog. Using application server software, they now directly connect to the New York-based LAN through the WAN. The application itself is running in New York, while the end user only gets the results. Winview is as fast as anything straight over the line. What took eight minutes to transmit now takes 10 seconds.

By adding a single application server to a wide area network, the amount of data traveling over the wire can be dramatically reduced. Instead of transferring large amounts of data across the WAN, application server software enables remote offices to run applications on the central corporate network, sending only Windows graphics commands, compressed video images, keyboard and mouse updates over the wire. As a result, WAN bottlenecks are eliminated and performance is improved.