Some recent technologies to support warriors on the road<\/p>\n
Vishnu K. Mahmud, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
vmahmud@yahoo.com<\/p>\n
Imagine having to visit six different countries within two weeks.
\nGoing from client to client, meeting various people, conducting
\npower lunches with different types of cuisine, all the while
\nkeeping in touch with your office to coordinate corporate
\nactivities worldwide.<\/p>\n
Christian Hentschel doesn't dream about that anymore. He
\nactually does it.<\/p>\n
The director of business development for advanced technologies
\nat Cisco Systems Asia Pacific is testimony to how traveling
\nbusinesspeople can effectively keep in contact with their home
\noffices despite being constantly on the move.<\/p>\n
Armed with only a laptop, Hentschel can touch base with his
\nSingapore office thanks to Internet Protocol (IP) technology.
\nOnce connected to the Internet, at his hotel or overseas office,
\nhe can immediately log on to his office network thanks to a VPN
\n(Virtual Private Network) client which creates a secure
\ncommunications tunnel within the chaos of the World Wide Web.<\/p>\n
From there, he can send and answer e-mails as well as share
\nfiles just as if he were physically at the office. With advances
\nin Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, Hentschel can also pick up
\nvoice mail from his Singapore desk.<\/p>\n
But is it secure?<\/p>\n
"Security is very high on everyone's agenda," says Hentschel.
\n"A few years ago, you could expect a computer 'attack' every
\neight hours. Now it's eight minutes."<\/p>\n
That is only too true. The past few months have seen thousands
\nof computers brought to their knees courtesy of two Internet
\nworms. Beyond that, there are still the daily dosages of viruses
\nthat continue to wreak havoc on networks, forcing businesses to
\ngo offline, cutting them off from the digital arena.<\/p>\n
Cisco Systems is known for its network switches that help
\npower the Internet. But it also has an abundance of products and
\nservices that help companies secure their networks.<\/p>\n
Although it already sells firewalls, intrusion detection
\nsystems (IDS) and VPN solutions, Hentschel says that Cisco offers
\nend-to-end infrastructure services for business and companies to
\nensure the safety of their networks.<\/p>\n
"We can simulate worm attacks to see if the design of the
\nnetwork is efficient. And our IDS software can also help IT
\nadministrators to understand the behavior of users and inquiries
\nof (Internet) hosts, in order to identify if something has the
\npotential to hurt the network or not."<\/p>\n
Threats don't only come from external sources, but also from
\ninternal divisions. With IDS, businesses can, for example,
\nquickly take note if a certain computer is using a lot of
\nbandwidth to send files, or if an external "authorized" user is
\nsnooping around the network.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the VPN connection and the integration of the phone
\nsystem at Cisco with VoIP, Hentschel can even answer calls
\naddressed to his Singapore number anywhere around the world,
\narmed with a Bluetooth headset connected to his notebook.<\/p>\n
"The system is set up to detect whenever I am on the network.
\nIt can then connect the voice mail and phone lines via my
\ncomputer. Voice is just another application, nothing more,"
\nHentschel said enthusiastically.<\/p>\n
VoIP is said to be an efficient telecommunications medium,
\nallowing companies to connect far-flung offices via the Internet,
\nbypassing costly telecom charges. The regulations for public use
\nof VoIP in Indonesia are rather murky but corporations are
\nallowed to use it internally.<\/p>\n
With the proliferation of WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) "hot spots"
\naround Asia, network connections to the office are getting
\neasier.<\/p>\n
And everything is slowly converging. Businesses can set up
\ntheir wireless networks, secured with VPN and firewalls, all the
\nwhile keeping in contact with their road warriors via next
\ngeneration IP telephony within public hot spots.<\/p>\n
Considering all this technology, what else can we expect in
\nthe future?<\/p>\n
"The biggest impact comes from the entertainment and the
\nconsumer market, which demand these facilities be made available
\non devices to make it easier for customers to use wherever they
\nare," says Hentschel.<\/p>\n
Some PDAs and practically all new notebook computers now
\nsupport the 802.11 wireless protocols, allowing them to connect
\nto the Internet via WiFi. In addition, future new consumer
\ngadgets are expected to be WiFi ready.<\/p>\n
Budding entrepreneurs could perhaps offer Internet access via
\na city-wide WiFi hot spot, while others sell sports or
\nentertainment channels via this infrastructure, secured with a
\nsubscription password and VPN technology.<\/p>\n
But for the moment, the technology to ensure that
\nbusinesspeople can continuously keep in touch with their offices
\nwherever they are continues to evolve, allowing companies to be
\nmore flexible and efficient in how they conduct business.<\/p>\n
Those who fail to keep up with the IT curve may lose out to
\ntheir competitors.<\/p>",
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