Managing Remote Computing Resources - Technology Information

ENT, Sept 8, 1999 by Mark McFadden

Deep in the Canadian arctic, in a treeless land of brutal climates, researchers are using a sophisticated computing platform to collect water temperature and contamination information. Once a day, if the samples have been collected properly, the data is transmitted thousands of miles south for analysis at Environment Canada headquarters in Ottawa. The things we can do with computers today is amazing, but it is not without some difficulties. For example, who will make sure that the computer has the most recent software patches? After all, it's difficult for a financially strapped government agency to ship a reluctant technician to the desolate north when a problem arises.

An international health care company with facilities in Texas, Puerto Rico, Ireland and Brazil found that its a centralized helpdesk cannot cope with some of the problems that occur throughout its global operations. The technical staff had worked with the distant users in an attempt to understand, diagnose and solve problems over the phone. Solutions could sometimes be dispensed remotely, but other times a visit to the workstation was needed. The resulting travel costs soon began to overwhelm the savings provided by the original helpdesk structure.

As enterprises evolve into distributed organizations with locations throughout the country - or around the globe - the same challenge arises: How do companies manage the computing resources of a far-flung enterprise and take advantage of remote computing's potential? The goal of remote computing, after all, is to achieve a greater return on the investment made in computing throughout a distributed organization and its mobile users.

Varieties of Remote Computing

"There's a broad range of remote computing requirements," says Steve Robb, director of product marketing at Sterling Commerce (www.stercomm.com), a provider of e-commerce tools. "While people are getting comfortable using the Internet as a backbone for enterprise applications, there are still two primary applications for remote computing: fixed-site remote access and mobile computing."

Robb describes fixed-site remote access as those applications - like the one in arctic Canada - that have polling as a focus. "There's often an electronic commerce flair to these requirements, such as a remote server polling individual retail outlets to gather the day's sales activities," he says. "Supporting the intermittently connected user is a different requirement entirely. You need to optimize for the limited available bandwidth and support the distribution of software and software components." Support for mobile users is becoming more important in many corporations. A recent GartnerGroup (www.gartner. com) report suggests there will be 137 million remote users by the year 2003.

As reliance on remote computing increases, support for mobile and external customers' software environments is becoming vital. George Kellar, vice president of marketing at Novadigm Inc. (www.novadigm.com), a maker of software distribution tools, says, "The software that the remote worker uses is just as important as the network." Kellar sees the remote computing industry transitioning from an environment where support is provided locally or informally to automated self-sufficiency. "Remote computing means that client desktops and applications will have to become technically self-sufficient," he says. "That, in turn, means that enterprises will have to incorporate a self-service component - along with self-repairing software - as part of any remote computing plan."

Reaching Out

Remote computing also means providing remote access to workstations. Using specially designed software, a user can have remote access to a desktop, its applications and its data. In the Windows NT environment this can mean gaining access to a remote machine via traditional phone line, the Internet or over a satellite connection.

According to Charles LaForge, senior product manager for Symantec's (www.symantec.com) pcAnywhere, "With remote computing, your company's server in Hong Kong appears to be right next door." LaForge adds that "it's important for people to have access to the machine, not just the network. After all, it's through the desktop that people are used to using corporate resources."

Remote access to the desktop will get a boost under Windows 2000, LaForge says. "For people with remote computing requirements, Active Directory will make it easy for clients to find remote computing resources. In addition, remote computers will be able to register the services they offer, eliminating the need for clients to scan the network for available remote computing resources."

Supporting the Remote User

In addition to access to applications, files, printers and other resources, remote access provides another tangible benefit: the ability to support remote users. The U.S. Navy implemented a distributed document image system called the Files Image Library Entry/Retrieval System, or FILES. Using FILES, almost any document can be scanned, indexed, retrieved and printed. As FILES was deployed, the Navy discovered an unexpected problem: Providing high-quality user support became a logistical and financial nightmare.