April 23, 2007

Working Remotely: Expert Advice from Lenovo's Wireless Guru

Working remotely can be a challenge for mobile warriors. Wireless is pretty ubiquitous but it has its challenges too. I bought a Lenovo computer a few months ago, and am overall pleased with its performance. The model I have, has Bluetooth and WiFi and I use Verizon Wireless broadband card for access to the Internet from just about everywhere.

Howard DuLany, wireless marketing manager at Lenovo, shares with us a few tips for small-medium sized businesses in choosing the right PC technologies for mobile workers.

Since small businesses usually have limited financial resources to work with as compared to larger enterprises, it is important to choose a notebook PC that delivers the reliability and features they need at an affordable price point.

Criteria to keep top of mind for companies with mobile workers include:

Reliability-durability-recoverability, battery life, connectivity and security. Many notebook PCs today offer features such as Wireless WAN capabilities and the latest processing power at an affordable price point.

Understanding that most small businesses don't have Help Desks to call when they can't connect to the Web or their systems crash, they should choose PCs that come equipped with self-service tools like ThinkVantage Technologies from Lenovo.

Access Connections is a ThinkVantage Technology that helps users automatically switch between wired and wireless connections as well as easily locate wireless networks while on-the-go.

Rescue and Recovery is a one button recovery and restore solution that helps users diagnose, get help and recover from a virus or other system crashes quickly, even if their support team is not nearby.

Active Protection System works like an air-bag for your hard drive by detecting sudden motion during those occasional jolts on the road and temporarily stops the hard drive to prevent data loss and crashes.

It is important for small businesses to adequately protect the data residing on their PCs when utilizing WiFi in the event that their system is hacked, lost or stolen. While today's WiFi specifications offer some security, hard drive encryption and biometric tools such as fingerprint readers help layer their solution to ensure proprietary data is not stolen and unauthorized access to documents is restricted.

These tools may seem like science-fiction but are now incredibly common and can be purchased with your PC or as an option at minimal additional cost.

Choosing a wireless network can be tricky since every business' needs vary. Security and easy integration with the hardware tools that employees will use to access information remotely should be top of mind when developing a wireless network.

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