In order to make it easier for people working from home during the pandemic to access their work computers, Citrix recently announced that it will make its remote access tool more widely available via the cloud.
According to senior program manager at the company Gabe Carrejo, Remote PC Access provides users with a more efficient alternative to VPNs to enable employees to remotely access their desktops.
Many organizations turned to VPN services to provide their employees with remote access while working from home at the start of the coronavirus outbreak. However, IT teams have been faced with network bandwidth issues as more users than initially intended all tried to access the same VPN at once.
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Citrix believes that its Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) is a more efficient protocol for providing users with remote access to their work computers than VPNs which is why the company has decided to make it easier to use its Remote PC Access tool.
Remote PC Access
In a press release announcing the expansion of its Remote PC Access offerings, senior product marketing manager of Citrix's Desktop and Applications Group, Paul Carley explained how the shift to remote work has led organizations to embrace the cloud, saying:
“As employees settle in to the new normal of working from home, it is more important than ever to provide access to a consistent and familiar set of tools that keep them engaged and productive while keeping corporate information safe. The shift to remote work has accelerated the move to the cloud. And we’re meeting our customers there with solutions that enable them to create the secure digital workspaces that meet their needs now and in the future.”
To use Citrix's Remote PC Access, an IT administrator must first install a small client on employees' remote systems. The client provides access to a range of networking services that the company makes available on top of its ICA remoting protocol in order to create a SSL tunnel that Citrix markets as High-Definition Experience (HDX) technology.
Businesses are now considering transitioning to a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform deployed either in a local data center or in the cloud. While large organizations may be trying to move away from VPNs, they still provide consumers and small businesses with additional security and anonymity online.
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