In the land of cookie and cache woes last week, one really cool technical thing did happen. It was so cool and so new to me that I probably spent a few more hours on the phone with tech support than I would have (or should have) in other circumstances. The NetGear technician who was half-way around the world in India was able to get remote access to my computer and use my laptop in Vermont. There was no need to find words to explain the situation. The technician was able to poke around and actually see what was happening (or not) on my computer. I found the technology that enabled this extraordinary. With this tool, a phone call to a technician is enhanced so that is really no different than getting help from in-house tech support – a live person who comes to your office or whom you visit. It eliminates typical communication obstacles.
Some of you may already have experience with this type of tech support , perhaps its is far more common place than I realized. Well, in any case, this is a tech sector that's booming. As we discussed in class, the number of workers who work remotely has dramatically increased in the last ten years. (Bomgar whitepaper on this topic). And with a dispersed workforce come new tech support needs. This remote PC access technology is just one of many new innovations to meet emerging needs.
Interestingly, the innovator of Bomgar developed the product in an effort to be more efficient. As a support technician, he felt too much time was being wasted getting to and fro on each service call. The motivating idea was to get remote access to computers so time would not be wasted in transit. Now, this is an emerging business in the tech sector.
The technology
The technology is explained as follows from the Bomgar website. Bomgar technology allows remote access to both attended and unattended systems from a single console. The remote control software allows tech support to establish a remote desktop connection with any Mac, Linux, or PC anywhere. While most firewalls block incoming traffic, they do not block outgoing traffic and it is this phenomenon that allows the technology to work. The remote PC access software works because both the support rep and the end-user send outbound traffic to the console. A review in PC Magazine explains further: “The application connects to your specific Bomgar device via standard TCP/IP ports that corporate and personal firewalls rarely block, bypassing a common headache with remote-support tools. All session traffic is then secured with the 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard from point to point, securing your data in transit from theft by an outside party.”
Click here for detailed explanation with diagrams of how it works.
Although I understand the process of how it works, I still am unclear about the actually technology that enables it other than a network connection. If someone can explain this better, I would appreciate it.
Marveling at technology,
Laura D
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