Steve Gold

Ever since the first days of the PC two decades ago, storage systems have crashed, resulting in the potential for lost data or, if you're lucky, a large bill for the recovery of your data. Major companies, of course, have turned to a variety of backup mechanisms, including tape-based systems, to ensure their data is backed up reliably, but, apart from backing up to CD-ROM, small to medium-sized businesses have been limited in terms of cost-effective backup.

PDAs are so portable as to make them susceptible to loss or theft - in a business environment the net result of this can range from inconvenience and embarrassment, right on up to serious problems with the regulatory authorities. Which is where SafeGuard PDA enters the frame. Like similar offerings from F-Secure and Pointsec, the software is designed to make a Pocket PC-based PDA as secure as electronically possible.

CyberAngel is actually one of several competing packages on the market in the U.S. and Canada that allows a central monitoring station to detect when an unauthorized access to a PC or notebook has taken place, and alerts the owner accordingly.

Now in version 11, pcAnywhere is one of the longest-running remote access applications for the PC. We can remember using an early DOS edition in the mid-to-late 1980s.

GoToMyPC takes a radically different approach to remote access. Instead of requiring users to dial into the host PC, the host PC maintains a passive out bound only link with GoToMyPC's servers.

Proxy is less of a remote access package and more of a remote support application, but going significantly beyond the feature set of other products.

Originally developed as a freeware project within AT&T, VNC - short for virtual network computing - now has several freeware variants.

RemotelyAnywhere is a relatively late arrival to the remote access software landscape. Despite this, the package is arguably the most complex currently available on the market, offering the IT professional full access to a remote machine's facilities, even allowing a full reboot on the fly.

Timbuktu Pro, which is available in both Mac and Windows, is clearly aimed at Mac users. The PC version, while functionally similar to the Mac edition, appears to be something of an afterthought, since functionality is limited.

Whilst RealVNC is freeware and a very basic remote access package with minimal security, TridiaVNC Pro shows what can be done with open source software.

Boingo uses a similar network aggregation model seen on ISP networks from the likes of iPass and GRIC. But it goes further with its business model, collecting and distributing usage revenues amongst the various network operators whose Wi-Fi hotspots it uses.

Since our last look at this product in June 2002, BT has completed roaming arrangements with several other networks and now has quite a healthy coverage of most major cities in the U.K.

Like the GRIC service reviewed elsewhere, iPass acts an intermediary/facilitator for internet service roaming. Unlike GRIC, which primarily serves consumers, iPass is more tailored for the enterprise.

Like iPass, GRIC is one of the world's two major internet roaming facilitators, with services aimed at both business and consumer users.

Known as Megabeam until late last year, Swisscom Eurospot is able to offer service at more than 1,100 venues.

The Cloud, a division of Inspired Broadcast Networks, is something of a low profile public Wi-Fi network, preferring to stay in the background as a wholesale wireless network operator.
When the service was launched earlier this year, the company offered access through two options, pay-as-you-use sessions from a variety of outlets, or through third parties, such as BT OpenZone, whose users can now roam seamlessly onto The Cloud's network.