Again, the only costs greater than the communications component are human resources. Staffing levels and support for remote data stores and servers need to be balanced with application and infrastructure costs. In some instances, archaic LAN applications will drive the need for more remote servers to keep communications-line costs down and response times healthy.
Stay Safe
Last but certainly not least is security. Your remote branches are extensions of your corporate infrastructure, and you must watch them just as closely. For example, how will you handle communications from the remote site to the outside world for voice and/ or data? One option is to route them through the central office and use a single access point/firewall. But this puts further strain on WAN bandwidth. Another choice is to place additional access points/firewalls at the remote branches. Carefully analyze traffic and weigh remote-support, security and cost considerations to arrive at the right decision for your company.
Of special note are home users. Often connected via VPNs, their remote PCs become an integral part of your infrastructure. Base security guidelines must be established before you accommodate this type of connection.
Your security defense must be nimble and quick. In addition to security-patch tools, you need configuration-management tools to close potential holes, as well as intrusion-detection tools to tell you of abnormal activity or device presence in the remote branch.
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