Challenges

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Firewalls have helped protect computers in large companies for years. Now, they're a critical component of home networks, as well. [] 1268453139

A solution to a more secure network for companies, and how to deploy a company's manufacturing, sales, and enterprise resource applications globally could be to use a virtual private network (VPN). An example of a company who implemented a VPN could be 'The Black & Decker Corporation', which is a global manufacturer of power tools and accessories, hardware and home improvement products. They used a VPN from Cisco Systems® to support its international business operations. By implementing this system the company extended their global network and enterprise application to underserved sites in Europe, South America and Asia. Furthermore they deployed a VPN over the public network without sacrificing service levels. __Challenge:__ As one of the world's leading power tool and security hardware manufacturers, Black & Decker operates sales, marketing, manufacturing, and customer service operations around the globe. Supporting a dispersed, diverse workforce requires a technology infrastructure that encompasses more than 160 sites in more than 40 countries, as well as more than 1500 "remote workers." Many locations outside the United States were either running their own sales and manufacturing systems (making it impossible to centrally process real-time global data), or were running no enterprise applications at all. Black & Decker wanted to bring these international sites online and into a single, global architecture. __Solution__: Black & Decker's network services team decided that migrating its international Frame Relay sites to a virtual private network (VPN) could provide an ideal solution for reducing network costs, increasing bandwidth, and bringing new sites online. But to keep costs as low as possible, the team opted to provision the VPN over the public Internet, rather than contracting with a network service provider. Each remote site connects back to one of Black & Decker's primary data centers in the United States, England, or Hong Kong. The sites are configured with multiple routes to a primary data center, so if one path goes down, the network automatically fails over to a secondary path. And because the entire system runs over the Internet, if any parts of the redundancy systems fail, Black & Decker's networking team can create a new VPN tunnel to another data center in minutes. __Result:__ The Internet-enabled Cisco VPN architecture has delivered significant cost savings and network performance enhancements at Black & Decker's international locations. In the company's 40-site Power Tools Europe network alone, the solution has cut network connection costs by 10 percent annually. And, more importantly, VPN has made it possible for Black & Decker to fully deploy its manufacturing, sales, and enterprise resource planning applications globally.

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Another solution for the company to increase its security and mobility could be to use DME - Excitor (Dynamic Mobile Exchange). DME is a complete mobile device management system, through which organizations can monitor, support and secure their mobile phone fleets. The DME solution suite also includes enterprise mobile software applications, which enables organizations of all sizes to make corporate applications, such as e-mail, calendar, address book, and documents accessible to employees via their mobile phones. "When representatives from Denmark’s most prestigious fur house, Kopenhagen Fur, need to send e-mails on-the-go, they do it via DME, the mobile e-mail software of choice for an auction house focused on security and low TCO. In order to equip their staff for succes, Arla recognizes that they need access to tools that keep them informed and enable them to be responsive to customer needs. DME enables one of the world largest manufacturer of dairy foods to satisfy both security needs as well as user experience."
 * Two case studies** from companies using this could be Kopenhagen Fur and Arla Foods:

A mentioned bene fit of this system could be: During work hours, DME also ensures that employees have uninterrupted use of their mobile device by enabling things such as [|routine updates, troubleshooting and maintenance] to be handled remotely by the DME administrator. In the event that a phone is lost or stolen, data can be wiped remotely and a new device can be provisioned within minutes, resulting in a minimal disruption to the user’s workday.

Furthermore by using DME in most cases the company would not have a problem about compatability as DME works across mobile operating systems, e-mail platforms, [|mobile phones] and telecom operators. This gives users the freedom to select the tools that fit their employees’ unique needs. The following shows what you can choose by using DME:
 * Windows Mobile, Symbian, Java and Apple iPhone mobile operating systems
 * Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes e-mail platforms
 * The telecom operators of your choosing and ensure they are selected
 * Nokia, Sony Ericsson, HTC, [|iPhone] and many more mobile phones

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Compatibility, accessibility, communication
 * Challenge:**

Cloud-based storage eg. AT&T is offering rate per gigabyte per month storage space from remote areas. ([|Reuters] )
 * Solution:**

- Benefits: Lower costs (outsourced), increased accessibility (with given security intact), faster communication, back-ups virtually not able to be destroyed physically, less physical space - Setbacks: Cannot always access internet, imperfect internet security, corruption due to its remote area

Internet Access
 * Challenge:

Solution:** iPhone's app -- SalesForce Mobile eg. SalesForce.com is offering business applications which can allow iPhone users to access hundreds of Salesforce CRM applications. ([|itWorld] )

- Benefits: Small companies find SalesForce, or Force.com very popular for business management, including client information, business performance, data manipulation -- all of which can be readily available on a 3G iPhone with SalesForce apps; Easy to carry, especially for telecommuting - Setbacks: Small screen, easier to type on a laptop, older employees might be disadvantaged 1268702589