A Bird’s Eye View Into Remote Access Technology

Here’s a hypothetical scenario for you (we’ve all been there, though!). You have an important presentation at work today and you’re all set to ace it. You’ve donned your best attire; you leave extra early to avoid the peak hour traffic and reach the office before time.

Since you don’t have much to do, you decide to take a final look at the presentation and maybe even rehearse it a bit. Unbeknownst to you – a nightmare awaits. In the hurry to reach early, you forgot to transfer the final version of the presentation from your home desktop to your laptop.

A glance at the clock tells you that you’d never make it in time if you headed back home now. Nor do you have the assets or data (or patience!) to create the presentation again. If only you had Doraemon’s Anywhere Door that could transport you directly to your home, so you could transfer the file to your work device and get back instantly. Well, there is a solution – it is not the Anywhere Door but there’s something else you could do.


You could simply use Google Remote Desktop to upload the file on your Google Drive and then download it on your laptop. If you said “Google Remote, what now?”, this article is for you.

Google Remote Desktop is one of many Remote Access Technology solutions available in the market today. It can connect you to any device that you’re logged in with your Gmail account almost instantly. Considering that you now have the presentation you need and having heaved a sigh of relief, let’s move on and talk about Remote Access Technology in detail.

What Is Remote Access Technology?

Remote Access Technology is the ability to access a device or a network that’s not in your physical vicinity. Regardless of how far you’re from the device, you can access all the data and applications to actually use the device, in the similar way you’re able to annotate on a whiteboard that your colleague is sharing on their device during a Zoom Call.

With the concept of work-from-home gaining popularity, remote access solution makes it possible for businesses to work with a distributed team. Not just that, you can take a workation (work vacation) and yet have access to all the files and data on your desktop all the time. Remote Access Technology also comes into play when service providers offer remote technical support. They’re able to access your device from any part of the world and resolve your issues instantly, without even scheduling an in-person visit.

Just like Rome, this technology too wasn’t built overnight. In fact, it has evolved drastically into various forms over the years. Let’s take a look...

Peeking Into The Past Of Remote Access Technology

While there’s no denying that accessing your desktop from a beach in Miami is relatively new, the idea of remote access has been in the works for decades now. The first form of Remote Access Technology was born with the idea of modems. In the early 1950s, the US government used modems to transfer data regarding their air defense systems from labs.

A decade later, in 1962, these modems were commercially accessible for people to transmit data quickly over phone lines. However, it posed two significant challenges. First of all, using telephone lines over extremely long distances meant exorbitant costs. Secondly, tapping into these lines was not much of a hassle, leading to several security issues. As a cost-cutting approach, broadband internet was used to gain remote access to devices and networks and modems became obsolete. However, hackers quickly monitored the ports created to access the broadband systems and intercept encrypted data.

To overcome that, the new-age remote access software was created. This software acted as a safe tunnel for data with a firewall on the host side, combined with a software client on the remote side. Consequently, hackers found it difficult to enter these tunnels and intercept transmitted data.

Coming back to the present, here’s how today’s Remote Access Technology is able to build a secure connection between you and the device/network you wish to access.

How Does Remote Access Technology Work?

Getting remote access requires three components to work together in harmony – software, hardware and network connectivity. A software securely connects the host devices (hardware such as your smartphone or laptop) over a hard-wired network, such as Wi-Fi network or even the Internet.

Let’s take the example of a VPN (Virtual Private Network), the software component that first receives data from your machine. It then encrypts the data and sends it to the server or intranet network you want to access through the internet. Once the data reaches there, the VPN decrypts the data and makes it accessible. If there’s a two-way connection built, it will again encrypt the data being sent from the other side and decrypt it before sending it to your machine.

However, VPN is just one of many Remote Access Technologies out there. There are several other types in the market.

Types Of Remote Access Technologies

There are four major types of Remote Access Technologies:
 

• Virtual Private Network (VPN)

  It establishes a secure tunnel between remote devices and your network to transmit data. It converts a public internet connection into a private one to prevent unwanted elements from entering a business’s network. Citrix and Cisco are the most popular VPN solutions used by enterprises.

• Remote Desktop Control

  Remote Desktop Control software are dedicated tools that let you control your co-workers, vendors, or anybody you need’s desktop from a distant location. You could call them advanced versions of the Zoom Whiteboard. While organizations use advanced tools for this, if you want to connect to your desktop remotely, you could use tools like GoToMyPC, LogMeIn and pcAnywhere.

• Privileged Access Management (PAM)

  While a VPN is used for logging in every employee into the company’s network, PAM lets you authorize certain accounts to secure, control and monitor the company’s resources and data. Arcon and CyberArk offer PAM solutions.

• Vendor Privileged Access Management (VPAM)

  An offset of PAM, VPAM lets you authorize accounts not in your company’s network, such as vendors and consultants, to access internal resources.

Remote access is not the same as accessing a drive folder. You not only get to use the resources but also have other privileges. Here’s what they are.

Features Of Remote Access Technology

Some standard remote access features that you’d find in almost every remote access solution:
 

• Access Control

  Operating another computer through yours.

• Real-time Chat

  Chatting with a remote user, if any, based at a remote location.

• Screen Sharing

  Sharing your screen with the other authorized users.

• Screen Recording

  Recording on-screen activity while sharing the screen.

• Remote Printing

  Accessing a remote device and printing files on it using a printer that’s connected to it.

Remote Access Technology has a lot to offer to businesses in the present times. Let’s dive into some of the most common benefits.

How Does Remote Access Technology Benefit Businesses?

Irrespective of the industry, any business invariably benefits in three ways by using Remote Access Technology:
 

• Flexible Working Conditions

  With the ability to log in to their work desktops through personal devices, you get to offer your employees a work from anywhere culture, a perk that’s highly in demand amongst professionals today.

• Remote Administration And Support

  Not just the employees but even the administration can oversee and manage the business all the time, irrespective of where they are. This applies to IT support as well. The IT team can resolve issues quickly through remote access without traveling to the location of the issue. 

• Better Team Collaboration

  Team members and managers can easily guide and help one another, whether a fellow developer is helping you find a bug or a creative head instructing a graphic designer.

Remote Access Technology has witnessed phenomenal growth in the past decade. At this rate, it’s destined to evolve massively in the near future. If you’re wondering how exactly they would evolve, let’s take a look!

The Road Ahead For Remote Access Technology

Industry leaders have put together a few key trends when it comes to Remote Access. First of all, mobile devices would be increasingly used to gain remote access. You won’t even need a laptop to access your home desktop. Just install an application on your phone and you’re good to go. Secondly, we can expect businesses to shift from traditional remote access solutions to cloud-based solutions for added security. To further enhance this security, you can expect multiple layers of authentication, including biometric and facial recognition to be added on top of existing remote access solutions.

When dealing with empowering technological solution like Remote Access Technology, security was, is, and will always be the primary driving force for evolution. Needless to say, we can expect exciting days ahead and wait for this technology to stun us!