Turning telework on its ear

The aptly named Telework Software company recently finished beta testing its debut product TeleWorks, which lets you perform administrative and knowledge work from any home PC. While traditional remote work products focus on the teleworker's ability to access network data and applications, or a PC, TeleWorks flips the idea around and puts the data and applications on the teleworker's PC, available for others to remotely access via the Web.

The software turns the PC into a Web server, allowing it to serve pages to specific individual users securely over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). TeleWorks Version 2.1 includes HTTP (public pages) and HTTPS Web server software that runs on any Windows system, a work site URL registration and SSL certificate. The software integrates with Microsoft Office, as well as any word processing application that lets you publish to the Web. Version 2.1 costs $595 for a single user, although site licenses can drop the cost down to $67 per user.

Say, for example a consultant installs TeleWorks to make work available to her client. She loads the software into a directory, defines the port and double clicks on the Pages.exe work server. The consultant is now running an SSL-encrypted tunnel for the client from her PC. You can run multiple tunnels for multiple clients or customers, giving secure access only to specified users. The client simply logs on with a user name and password to access Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and the like.

Telework Software is targeting individual workers and has its sights set on the growing virtual assistant market.

The product's architecture may be a tough sell for network execs, who're never keen on turning 500 remote PCs into Web servers. However, the product is a good fit for free agents and small and virtual companies - so long as each end user is running a good desktop firewall to protect against hackers trying to access the PC.

TeleWorks President Gary Deines recommends SyGate, which is free, and blames Microsoft for the security problems. "Its software opens up a lot of IP ports by default, and hackers have found the holes. But if you unbind all the Microsoft network stuff, then you've addressed most of the hacker issues. We also recommend users have only one network port open. Hackers can only get in when you're running software that looks at an IP port. The fewer open, the less the problem."

Deines says his company helps customers make these configuration changes, adding, "Web working via a PC is key to teleworking success. Therefore, workers must understand the security issues and have software that solves the problem."

RELATED LINKS