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... use the same secure remote access software on OS X and Windows.

...get a commercially supported UNIX Secure Shell server.

...have secure terminal
emulation for my Mac OS X systems.

...replace nonsecure Telnet.

...replace nonsecure FTP.

...securely transfer files with simple drag and drop.

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Customer Success Story



Brown, Seligman & Thomas

  • Products: VShell® for Windows, Entunnel™
  • Company Size: less than 25 employees
  • Summary: VShell server and Entunnel are used to forward TightVNC traffic to allow agents to remotely access an insurance application/database located at the main office.

Organization

Brown, Seligman & Thomas is a full service insurance agency with 80 years experience insuring New Mexico's agribusiness sector. Brown, Seligman & Thomas is committed to providing its customers with outstanding customer service, promising after hours access to key personnel, instant quotes over the phone, and Quick Quotes through their web site within 48 hours.

Challenge

To provide these services, Brown, Seligman & Thomas needs to make sure that their agents have quick and reliable access to office resources, both at the office and while working from home. In particular, their agents need to access customer data through their TAM (The Agency Manager) customer management system.

" As head of our company's IT department, it's nice to know I can go on vacation and still be able to respond to an emergency. "—Curtiss Wilson, Chief Information Officer

A nonsecure system, such as direct SMB connections from outside their LAN, was out of the question. They experimented with another popular remote access solution, but found that the application would often hang, producing unreliable connections and preventing the agents from being effective while out of the office. Another solution they considered was installing TAM for use remotely. But forwarding SMB over SSH was difficult to get working — not surprising as this is not a task for the faint-hearted (see our Tunneling SMB tip). Brown, Seligman & Thomas needed to find a simple, cost-effective solution that would allow their agents to work remotely without compromising their network or their customers' confidential data.

Solution

After researching and evaluating their options, Brown, Seligman & Thomas selected VShell Secure Shell server for Windows and Entunnel data tunneling client application as their remote access solution. A select group of authorized agents use Entunnel to port forward TightVNC traffic to the main file server. With high-speed Internet access, these agents can now efficiently run reports and view customer profiles in their TAM application from any remote location.

This solution also simplifies support for the company's network administrator who now is able to tunnel TightVNC to provide after hours support to employees from his home.

One challenge Brown, Seligman & Thomas faced was correctly configuring the TightVNC client sessions so that the network administrator could connect from home to administer machines at the office. This was quickly solved by working with VanDyke technical support. (For more on VNC, see the April 2003 issue of VanDyke's company newsletter.)

One limitation to the current TightVNC solution is that when working from home the agents can only print to printers located at the main office. They are now looking at Remote Desktop for Windows XP, which can be easily secured over an SSH tunnel and will allow them to print reports on their local printers. Securing Remote Desktop with Entunnel and managing access privileges with VShell provides a solution that is easy to use and simple to set up and administer.

As the office grows, Brown, Seligman & Thomas wants to increase their agents' mobility and envisions creating a "virtual" branch office in another part of the city. Using the VanDyke SecureFX® file transfer client and its remote editing capability, their agents could modify Excel spreadsheets from the road and synchronize these changes with files on the main server.

With office space costs at a premium, a virtual branch office would allow Brown, Seligman & Thomas to grow its business without the initial outlay and ongoing costs of rented office space. A combination of VShell, Entunnel, and SecureFX will allow most agents to work from home, improving the company's bottom line.

Brown, Seligman & Thomas's vice president, Mike Davis, is perfectly clear about the VShell/Entunnel solution — the price is right. As compared to proprietary remote access solutions that cost $10,000 and more, the current small workgroup solution was acquired for just under $700. Both VShell and Entunnel will scale well as the company grows.

With the VShell Secure Shell server on their Windows network and an Entunnel client on their remote workers' machines, Brown, Seligman & Thomas has created a reliable, cost-effective secure solution that allows their agents to quickly and efficiently respond to customer service requests both from the office and home.

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