New technologies often require new ways of thinking, particularly in the business world. This is especially the case with remote connectivity.

Despite the fact that remote-access and mobility solutions offer enormous benefits (see " Remote access can broaden your company's reach "), many companies have been reluctant to implement them.

Managers worry about supervising employees they can't see every day, while employees worry about being productive without the same resources as office-based workers. Companies are concerned about the investments they may have to make in remote-access equipment, as well as the security and manageability of remote access and mobility solutions.

In order to ensure that the productivity benefits of remote access aren't offset by security, performance, or management problems, it is important to connect with the right solutions.

Here are six things you need to look at in buying a solution.

1. Security. Perhaps the greatest concern that companies have about remote access is security. Somehow companies must provide remote workers with access to all of the corporate resources they need to do their jobs without making those same resources vulnerable to security breaches. The key is to take a multilayered approach (i.e., more than just a firewall) to security in order to eliminate "back door" entry points or gaps that can become targets for hackers.

2. Broadband connectivity. Only a few years ago, the primary connection option available to a remote user was a dialup line. While a dialup connection is adequate for checking e-mail, it lacks the capacity, "always on" connectivity, and reliability that are required for more data-intensive or collaborative business applications.

   Today, broadband-access technologies such as DSL and cable are widely available, and they are sometimes less expensive than dial-up. Service providers actively market a variety of broadband service packages to residential customers that promote home-office operations, such as the ability to run an additional telephone line over a broadband connection.

   Companies should look for routers that support all of the "flavors" of DSL (including ADSL and IDSL), as well as ISDN and cable. By supporting all of the residential broadband service options, companies can support the individual needs of each remote user or location while still standardizing the routers at each remote location for easier manageability and tighter security.

3. Ease of use. Technology has made it possible for companies to connect remote workers with speed, security, and reliability, but unless the technology is easy to use, employees won't be happy or productive. Companies should look for "fixed configuration" routers that don't require specialized knowledge or training to set up. In particular, a Web-based graphical user interface will empower a remote worker to configure the router in just a few simple steps, so companies don't have to hire outside contractors to support remote installations.

4. Manageability. Small companies do not have the time or money to dispatch a technician to an employee's home to fix network problems. That is why centralized manageability is a key requirement for any remote-access solution.

   Easy management is particularly important when it comes to deploying virtual private networks. VPNs offer a flexible and inexpensive alternative to traditional private wide-area network connections, but they can be difficult to set up, especially at the remote site. Companies should look for the ability to "push" security policies (including encryption and authentication algorithms) from the home office out to the remote router, so there is no need for technical intervention at the remote end.

5. Quality of Service. Quality of Service, an international standard devised to ensure smooth networking, is an increasingly important consideration as companies mix low-level traffic (such as e-mail), with mission-critical business or time-sensitive applications (such as voice-over Internet Protocol).

   Without Quality of Service, these applications compete with each other for bandwidth, and too often the lowest priority traffic crowds out the higher priority applications, causing them to time out or degrade in performance. If employees are accessing these types of bandwidth-dependent applications remotely, it is important to look for a router with built-in Quality of Service to guarantee that higher priority traffic is allocated the bandwidth it requires for optimum performance.

6. Advanced services. Once companies commit to remote access, the next logical step is to look into the benefits of Internet Protocol telephony (IPT) and videoconferencing. With IP telephony, companies can "packet-ize" voice and send it over the same transmission line with data. By equipping employees with combined voice and data capabilities using IPT, companies can help a small workforce be more productive, more collaborative, and more responsive to customers. They can also streamline their networks to reduce the burden on internal support staff. In short, IPT can help small businesses be more agile.

   Videoconferencing is an enormously powerful tool for giving remote workers and their colleagues and supervisors the "face-to-face" time that can help overcome the isolation of working outside the office.

   In a small office/home office deployment, look for a router that will support an IP phone. At headquarters, make sure you have a router that supports full multi-service data/voice/video/fax integration.