Working without walls

“Working without walls” is a new slogan at Microsoft.  A survey showed that 40% of employees are using VPN,  Microsoft has since then got serious about products that facilitate employees to work remotely and from home.
There are whole new set of products from Microsoft that offers secured network connections to remote employees. These goodies are part of Windows Server R2 , small business version. Combination of Windows 7 with R2 brings in good administrative functionality and protection.
Today I will be blogging about “Direct Access” and its application in Virtual Organizations.
Direct Access (in Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and Windows 7) – Automates end-user security protocols, giving your IT department complete access to remote computers on the network.
Readers who work on VPNs would ask “ That is exactly what I do with VPN , then why Direct Access?”
The answer is yes. that is what VPN is all about, but Direct Access is much more.

Ask yourself these questions

Don't you need to establish connection to VPN before accessing your resources?
Are you happy to use VPN when you are on the move? Haven't you experienced frequent internet breaks while moving?
Though you are connected via VPN, do you still get the same comfort as the office intranet?

Direct access is the best solution to the above VPN issues.

Users do not need to establish a connection
Users do not need to reconnect, if the Internet connection breaks.
Group Policy settings get active before user logs on, so it is just like you work on your office intranet.
Users can log on to Active Directory, just like in the intranet
Works together with NAP (Network Access Protection) and NAC (Network Access Control) solutions
Communication to the corporate network is encrypted with IPsec

So get “Windows 7” and “Small Business – R2” and transform yourself to a New-Gen Virtual Organization.  Do keep watching for more tips on Virtual organization and kindly leave comments on my articles.