That's why you need remote-control software. It can reduce the cost of supporting client desktops, cut the cost of server administration and make your telecommuters more productive. Even small companies that have extended their reach via the Web are seeing a spike in consumer demand for more interactive online support methods. E-mail doesn't cut it if your competitor has instant-chat capabilities.
We gathered a herd of remote-control tools, best-of-breed products as well as components of desktop-management suites. Not surprisingly, best-of-breed solutions held the top spots. NetSupport Manager took top honors because of its excellent performance, enterprise-class deployment and manageability, and reasonable price.
We tested these remote-control products at our Syracuse University Real-World Labs®. Performance tests determined screen-refresh rates between masters and hosts by transferring bitmap images during remote control sessions. File transfer performance was tested by transferring document files between masters and hosts. To grade each product, we combined the raw performance with an analysis of the features. We also tested for error recovery and detection and verified that clear text was not passed in the authentication and the data streams during encrypted sessions.
To test features and functionality, we installed, where necessary, NOS support. For performance testing, we used two Dell Computer GX-1 workstations (500 MHz). The GX-1s ran Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional. When possible, we turned off caching. When that was not possible, as with Web browser remote control, we stopped and started sessions and cleared cache between sessions. We inserted a Shunra Storm STX-100 between the workstations to emulate traffic at 56 Kbps--the slow speed provided a level playing field for testing screen-refresh and file-transfer capabilities.
For screen-refresh testing, we used a pallettized bitmap file with 8-bit color depth (223 KB) and three true-color RBG bitmaps at 24-bit color depth to transfer between master and host computers. For file-transfer testing, we used document files that ranged in size from 297 KB to 5,229 KB in several formats. Each file was transferred between guest and host three times with and without encryption.
For the most part, we found no noticeable difference in performance for encrypted and nonencrypted sessions. Because each program provided various options for exchanging keys and encrypting data, we disabled encryption to put each product at the same starting point. However, the products from Novell, Spartacom Technologies and uRoam defaulted to encrypted sessions, but this did not seem to hinder their performances.
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