IT Telecommuting - Dream the Impossible Dream !

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Gento

An article in Network World, “Want to telework? Not so fast, IT,” emphasizes that many IT Professionals would like to telecommute, but are unable to for a variety of reasons.  It even mentions a particular company for which “IT workers are expected to live within close enough proximity to the office to be able to get there quickly.”

While there are a variety of factors that may gate the ability to telecommute (including trust, technology and culture), remote access tools are readily available for IT to effectively telecommute and perform virtually all IT tasks not requiring a wrench or a screwdriver !

 Remote access tools for telecommuting must meet the following requirements:

• Be available anytime/anywhere
• Provide complete and comprehensive access
• Provide out-of-band access
• Connect to your entire IT infrastructure
• Connect quickly and easily
• Provide secure access

Technologies such as KVM-over-IP, secure console servers, intelligent PDU’s, embedded service processors, and in-band access, when integrated within a centralized management system, can meet the above requirements.  Complete and comprehensive access includes BIOS-level access, access to serial devices, virtual media and remote power control.

The Network World quotes a CIO who says:  “If their job is to stack racks or power-cycle servers, then they need to be in the data center.”    While “rack stacking” via telecommuting is beyond the state of the art in data centers, remote power cycling is completely possible via today’s intelligent rack PDU’s such as Raritan’s PX rack PDUs.  Power, energy and environmental management are also supported.

So while there may be many “soft” reasons gating IT telecommuting, remote access solutions are available to securely support today’s IT professionals dreams of working from wherever they are.