Technologies for remote support

Providing IT support to remote offices is not any easy task, with every network requiring attention to the architecture, security and performance planning. InformationWeek took a close look at technologies that can make for more efficient remote office management, including IP telephony, server and desktop virtualization, WAN optimization, unified threat management devices, and instant messaging. The review is thorough and the recommendations come with all the positives and the negatives. Server virtualization, for example, was recommended even for small locations because of benefits that include better improved utilization and faster deployments. WAN optimization was described as a straightforward concept: "Stick an appliance on both sides of a WAN link and, voilà, faster traffic. No clients to load, no messing with the firewall [maybe]. There are plenty of vendors to choose from: Blue Coat, Cisco, Citrix, F5, Juniper, Packeteer, and Riverbed..." But--and there is always a but--it is recommended that you test before you buy because performance is dependent on application load.

To get all the "remote" details:
- see this InformationWeek.com article