Watch Video

What’s New:

• Redesigned user experience
• Retina display support
• Improved performance
• Mouse modes (locked mouse, free mouse)
• Full remote keyboard implemented
• Added option to send SMS invitations
• Active/inactive session detection

Connect to any Windows, Mac, or Linux computer and control remote desktop. Use the ISL Light app to support clients remotely or access your unattended computers even behind a firewall or a NAT proxy.

Try it for FREE!

1. Download the ISL Light iOS 2.0 app from the App Store for FREE
2. Login with your existing ISL Online username and password
3. If you do not have an account yet, simply sign up for a 15-day free trial

Have a great weekend!

How to get a free ticket to CeBIT? Simply email us at sales@islonline.com or come to our Live Chat.

Not lucky enough to be in Hannover? Don’t worry, here is a magic wand. I will be blogging about every noteworthy piece of news and give you live coverage of the show. So, stay tuned!

What’s discouraging is that the all-time-high gas prices notwithstanding, the number of U.S. telecommuters who considered their home their primary place of business (not including the self-employed) was only 2.5 million in 2008. Even more surprising is the fact that the total number of people who worked from home or remotely for an entire day at least once a month dropped from 33.7 million in 2008 to 26.2 million or by about 20% of the U.S. working adult population in 2010. However, the decline is likely due to a combination of factors: fewer Americans in the workforce overall due to high unemployment, higher anxiety concerning job security, and lack of awareness of telework options (WorldatWork).

Anyhow, high gas prices and the greener environment aren’t the only two incentives to telecommute. Additionally, telework has a positive effect on a better work/life balance, continuity of operations, employee satisfaction and retention, quality of work, productivity, and is a quality differentiator when choosing a job. If looking a bit broader on work flexibility – flexibility of time, place and work processes, that too, has a significant impact on business. It increases customer retention, productivity, profit gain and organisational commitment, increased shareholder value, it makes staying with the firm more attractive to high level executives as well as to other employees, it reduces stress, and promotes partnering with employees to manage the workload. Businesses with a culture of flexibility usually have employees that are more engaged in and committed to achieving organisational goals. It’s a common fact that satisfied employees influence customer satisfaction which positively impacts on the bottom line (Boston College).
Image courtesy of Telework Exchange

The good news is that a lot of jobs are indeed eligible for telework, well, at least the white-collar ones. Ideal characteristics describing a teleworker are the ability to communicate via e-mail and phone, to remotely access an organisation’s IT infrastructure, a safe alternative working environment, and the ability to control one’s schedule to a significant degree (Telework Research Network).

Besides, technology today enables us to carry our laptop PCs and tablets around and use them at the office or at home (and practically anywhere else). Broadband Internet connections, Wi-Fi and the rise of cloud computing technology have enabled access to office tools and remote servers via a combination of portable hardware and software. Although we have a plethora of technological solutions at hand, the key to making remote work possible for a business is to keep it simple.

Take me for example. This very instant, I’m working at home on my own computer using our corporate EIM solution (ISL Pronto) for quick text communication with my colleagues at work, while I’m also connected to my office PC via remote access in case I need software applications and files shared on our corporate Intranet. We keep it clean and simple so everyone in our company can work remotely if he/she wants to. If it wasn’t for the great social atmosphere, for those first morning coffee breaks, relaxing lunch outings, yummy birthday cakes and occassional near-to-tears laughs, I seriously doubt anyone would be actually sitting in the office day after day after day. Therefore, remember that giving your workers a chance to telework is the first step, but attracting them back to the office usually takes a bit more than just a comfortable chair and a fast computer. It takes an all-in-all flexible and relaxed corporate culture and a leadership that work together with workers towards a common goal.

Don’t forget to visit us at our stand: Hall 004, Stand C03. This year we are focusing mostly on mobile remote desktop and our state-of-the-art help desk solution consisting of a virtual chat agent (1st line), a live chat web-channel (2nd line) and remote desktop support software (3rd line). Plus, we’ll be also giving away promotional 60-day trial coupons. See you!

Teaser: a few photos of what went on in ISL Online’s previous CeBIT exhibitions…

About ISL Recording Player 3.0
ISL Recording Player lets you open and view all recordings that capture everything during an ISL Online session including manually added bookmarks for easier playback. It works on all major operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux) with its user interface translated into 26 languages (among others, English, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese). Session recordings are written in a special small size format .isr, although you can easily export .isr files into .avi if needed.

Where to download the latest ISL Recording Player?
Go to islonline.com, open ISL Tools under products and find ISL Recording Player. Or just click Download ISL Recording Player for the direct download.

How to record online meetings and webinars in ISL Groop?
When you are in an online meeting, open the Recording tab and click start. Place bookmarks during the meeting whenever you want to mark an important slide, topic, discussion or anything else worth your attention.

How to record remote desktop support in ISL Light?
Session recording during remote support comes to make sense only after having switched on desktop sharing. That’s why ISL Light offers you the choice to start recording a session in the ISL View window, which already shows the remote client’s shared desktop. You open the ‘Tools’, click on ‘Recording’, load a plug-in if you’re new at this, and start recording.

How to record remote access in ISL AlwaysOn 2.0?
Although ad-hoc session recording works the same in ISL AlwaysOn 2.0 as it does in ISL Light (look above) you can easily automatize it to record every remote access to your computer. Just start the program installed on the remotely accessible (client) computer by double-clicking the ISL AlwaysOn icon in the taskbar, then click the green ISL AlwaysOn button to open the ‘Settings’, and check ‘Enable session recording’ under ‘Desktop Sharing’. That’s it. All recordings will be automatically saved to a selected destination.

If you haven’t tried session recording yet, I encourage you to test the latest ISL Recording Player 3.0 released this January. After that, don’t forget to leave a comment or send an email to support@islonline.com expressing your ideas, suggestions or feature requests for the next version of ISL Recording Player.

Download New ISL Recording Player

Here is a short video tutorial on how to record a web meeting in ISL Groop (available from version 2.4 up):

New in ISL Recording Player:
• Available now for Windows 32bit, MacOSX 10.4+, Linux 32bit and Linux 64bit.
• Works with ISL Light remote desktop, ISL AlwaysOn remote access and ISL Groop web conferencing software.
• Playback works faster and recordings can be played smoothly from any time slider position.
• Has an improved speed for scrolling the timeline when playing back a recorded session.
• You can place bookmarks during a recording session.
• The export in .avi format has been redesigned.
• Settings are now saved globally meaning they stay adjusted until manually reset to basic settings.
• Chat window is expandable and can be moved to another position.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with ISL Online session recording, here is a short description I copied from one of my previous posts.

How session recording works
ISL Online has taken the job seriously and developed a special plug-in, downloadable on demand and used for recording sessions, and a unique player called ISL Recording Player, where users can then play back such recordings. Files are written in a special format .isr, whose unique advantage lies in its small size. Nevertheless,.isr files can be easily exported into .avi.

What I like most about the ISL Online recording plug-in is that it actually records everything during a session — desktop sharing, text chat, video streams, and audio communication — while the ISL Recording Player plays them separately although synchronised. It also offers a lot of viewing options, e.g. one can adjust the playback speed to five pre-set possibilities (0.2x, 0.5x, 1x, 2x, 5x) allowing a quick glance through the recording and also a good insight into important details. Although the ISL Recording Player has been designed to play .isr files only, it boasts something that even most commercial players on the market lack – multi-language support since the interface has been translated into 26 languages (among others, English, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese).

Now, all you have to do is to record your next session, whether remote support, remote access or an online meeting, download the new ISL Recording Player, and play it back just whenever. Enjoy!

Name: Maurice van der Woude
Occupation: General Director of EuroCloud Europe
Organisation: EuroCloud Europe
Need: web conferencing software
Solution employed: ISL Online SaaS

Q: Maurice, please tell us the reasons why you decided to start using web conferencing software.

A: Just like many other associations with partners located everywhere across Europe, EuroCloud, too, had been practising occasional meetings at the airports, in hotels and on the partner’s premises to thoroughly discuss certain important things in person instead of emailing or conversing endlessly over the telephone. A year ago we started using ISL Online’s web conferencing software called ISL Groop and since then it has become an indispensable tool for us. Each time we need to discuss executive issues, we simply meet online in a web conference. It increases our productivity and definitely saves a lot of travel costs.

Q: Now that you are using web conferencing software, how do you compare your business to before?

A: It’s great! ISL Groop allows our international team of board members to organise board meetings online and discuss open issues at any time. If geographical distances used to represent a major barrier for a frequent face-to-face communication, now we can meet up anytime without any particular costs attached to an online meeting. I think such tools are really indispensable for organisations like EuroCloud, whose members come and work from different European countries.

Q: What do you like most about ISL Groop?

A: Everybody here at EuroCloud Europe shares the same opinion on ISL Groop, that it’s a very simple web conferencing service. It’s web-based and doesn’t require user registration for any other participant other than the one organising an online event. Participants receive their invitation through an email and can join the online meeting in a matter of clicks. During the online meeting you can use audio and video conferencing, screen sharing, text messaging, slide annotations and session recording.

Q: Are you using ISL Groop for public events as well?

A: Yes, we intend to use ISL Groop’s webinar also at EuroCloud day, that’s an event coming up in the first half of this year. We shall connect auditoriums full of participants across Europe through ISL Groop and share audio, video and live screen among them. All online conferences will be recorded and archived for later use and available to anyone who would like to play back a particular web conference, including audio and video streams, chat messages and live screen.

About EuroCloud Europe
EuroCloud is an independent non-profit organisation, whose main mission is to create awareness of Cloud Computing throughout our society and take an active role in the design of cloud industry processes and standards. EuroCloud has established its presence in 27 countries in less than two years and has a local EuroCloud formally established in 17 European countries.

Remote desktop support; a client at the remote computer
There are basically three steps to connect to a remote computer to offer IT support to a client (or mum, for that matter).

1. Download ISL Light iOS to your Apple mobile device.

2. Create ISL Online account.
If you are new to ISL Online, feel free to register for a no-obligation 15-day free trial.

3. Start a new session.
Open the ISL Light app on your iOS mobile device and click ‘Start new session’.

The rest is pretty straightforward and once the session is finished, you can’t reuse the same session code or connect to the same computer without your client’s repeated permission.

If you intend to access unattended computers frequently for let’s say remote server administration or remote work, the procedure is a bit longer.

1. Download ISL Light iOS to your iOS mobile device.

2. Create ISL Online account.
If you are new to ISL Online, feel free to register for a no-obligation 15-day free trial.

3. Add remote access to your / clients’ PCs.
Sit behind the computer you wish to add remote access to or have someone sit there for you. In either case, follow the Add remote access link (or open the ISL Online website, do a Product Login, and select ISL AlwaysOn). Then, download the ISL AlwaysOn application or send the other person instructions via email found under ‘Show more possibilities’.

ISL AlwaysOn being installed and configured, you can access that computer from anywhere even from your mobile device when on the road. So, grab your iPad or iPhone and…

4. Open the previously installed ISL Light app.
5. Go to My computers showing a list of remotely accessible computers.
6. Connect to your PC.

For those of you who prefer to watch a video, here is a 2-minute video guide on how to start using ISL Light iOS:

Now, that we’ve cleared all the technical barriers, there is nothing stopping you from working on your home or office PC right from where you are sitting right now. 1, 2, 3, go!

To get you started
The first step to sharing files is to download the updated ISL AlwaysOn 2.0. After successfully installing the remote access application, the second step is to grant access to your computer on which the files are located. After that, file sharing is easy. Just find the file you want to share, make a right mouse click on it, select ‘Share this folder with ISL AlwaysOn’ and set access rights – download only or full control — and authentication requirements – privately protected with a password or publicly accessible with a link. Whereas the shared files become available from your ISL Online web account, they can also be accessed by guest users provided they are given a link.

Share a folder of unlimited size and distribute a link to access it online to co-workers, friends or family.

Although sharing files online works like a charm once you get to know it, the most basic trick you must be aware of before diving fully into it is the fact that ISL AlwaysOn only lets you share folders and not separate files. Therefore, to get the most out of the new functionality is to create a new folder or set an existing one for sharing and then put all files you want to share in there. It might also be wise to create several folders for different remote users.

Collaboration in shared file space
With no space size setting you back, ISL AlwaysOn’s new file sharing functionality can help expand and reinforce an open and collaborative environment between colleagues, friends and clients. Create a shared file space and work on files together from anywhere no matter their size. While you can work on files directly on a local computer with updates automatically sent online, your remote partners can access, download and edit them easily through web-based access plus upload new files or even create new folders.

Get access links to your shared folders and distribute them to guest users.

Files at hand
It’s hard to understand just how much better it is to see and work on your work-related files lined up at a glance in your shared folder and updated as they come in, until you’ve tried it out yourself. Once you’ve shared a folder, it receives all updates automatically while working on the local computer. The real magic starts when working on files remotely through web access. The web interface shows a list of files and folders inside the shared folder, lets you expand each folder, download selected files and folders, delete them, upload new files or updated ones,and create new folders.

View the files online through your web account without having to use remote access to that PC. Tip: when logged in to ISL Online web account (ISL AlwaysOn), refresh the website (F5) to see the ‘files’ option if it is not shown immediately.

So, feel free to go on a business trip, a family holiday or work from home totally carefree as you know you can acces your office PC remotely anytime from anywhere, or even work normally on the files you’ve previously shared without accessing a remote computer.

Download ISL Online Android Beta for free.

Once you install the beta on your Android, you need an active ISL Online account to continue to a remote desktop (tip: start a 15-day free trial if you don’t own a licensed account). Logged in, you can either start a new remote connection with a client’s computer or access a remote computer with the previously installed and enabled ISL Online’s remote access. To connect to the remote client’s computer (Windows, Mac, Linux) get a new session code and pass it on to your client via email. The client then visits www.islonline.com and starts a desktop sharing session from there. On the other hand, if you want to access one of your previously installed computers (Windows only) which might be unattended, search through your remote computer list and just click ‘connect’.

Which functionality to expect?
• Automatic login – the app saves your login username and password to make your next remote access quicker.
• Works on Wi-Fi and 3G.
• Remote desktop support with an ad-hoc connection to a remote computer.
• Remote access to unattended computers.
• Searching for a remote computer by its name and other tags.
• Online /offline status.
• Full access to all remote computer’s applications and files.
• Remote desktop featuring optimised quality, optimised speed, or a combination of both (set by default).
• Zooming in, zooming out by pinching the screen or selecting a pre-set zoom option – fit to screen, 1:2, or 1:1.
• High security with 256-bit SSL.
• Special keyboard combinations like Ctrl-C, Alt-, Ctrl-Alt-Del.

Enjoy your holiday present and start swinging to those sweet beta jingles!

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Access all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
And connect from anywhere

Infographic: how ISL Light remote desktop and ISL Online collaboration software evolved since 1999

During the past few days I’ve been busy adding pieces together of how ISL Light remote desktop software has evolved ever since its first release in 2003. Although that was the key year for ISL Light, the whole story began a few years earlier, in 1999, when a few close friends and Internet enthusiasts started digging into technologies that wheeled behind remote desktop control and founded a company in 2001, just a few weeks before the devastating 9/11 followed by a stock market downturn. Nevertheless, the start-up saw a big opportunity in remote desktop software since the market back then offered only a few similar solutions. Their first release was presented in 2003. First, in the local market and soon after their reach was extended to most European countries, the USA and Japan. Back to today, about 120,000 businesses from all over the world use a series of ISL Online remote desktop and online collaboration products on a daily basis either for remote support, remote access, live chat or online meetings.

The early years
ISL Light started off as a one-way remote view & control plus file transfer service in 2003. It was secured by SSL encryption and was firewall friendly. As early as 2005, the version 2.0 brought two-way desktop sharing, more customisation options, text chat between the desk operator and the client as a sort of replacement for a telephone conversation during remote support, adjustable colour depth, which automatically adapted to the speed of the user’s Internet connection, and whiteboard tools for better visual communication between the connected parties. Most importantly, it also brought Software as a Service (SaaS). That was the key point in getting ISL Light across to a wider public since SaaS was a no-installation service hosted on ISL Online network of servers, offering pay as you go and an annual subscription. The number of users soon picked up from 2,400 before the 2.0 release to 12,500 in November 2006. Today, about 85% of 120,000 ISL Online business users go for the SaaS license.

Cloud-based network
In the meantime, cloud computing technologies have been added to the SaaS’s network to ensure stability, fault tolerance and all-round availability of the service. GeoDNS, distributed session roaming, load balancing and other network technologies, offered exclusively by ISL Light, have been considered unique among similar products and are used even today as one of the core Cloud mechanisms hosting ISL Online’s SaaS. Using these technologies, the global network of ISL Online servers has reached unbeatable performance assuring that every remote desktop connection is strong and reliable, and works at optimal speed regardless of the user’s location.

Today, the ISL Online Cloud consists of a series of dedicated servers, hosted by more than 50 professional and industry-proven data centres around the world. To get a rough idea of how big ISL Online SaaS’s Cloud Network actually is – in 2010 it hosted more than 5 million sessions with the heaviest of users creating over 250,000 sessions per year. ISL Online’s SaaS achieved an amazing 99.9667% uptime in 2010, meaning it was globally available 365/24/7 except for 2 hours and 55 minutes, mostly reserved for the scheduled cloud infrastructure maintenance.

Online collaboration products
Considering global trends and a rising demand, ISL Online directed their efforts towards developing more software products for remote collaboration over the Web to fill in the gaps their increasingly popular remote desktop tool could not close. In March 2006, a new software programme ISL Pronto designed for live chat / enterprise instant messaging (EIM) was released as beta. In 2007, more new products followed – ISL AlwaysOn beta for easy remote access and ISL Groop beta for instant online meetings.

All-in-One license
2008 was a milestone year. Soon after releasing the first official version of their remote access and online meeting software, a decision was made to bundle all four products into one called ISL Online and offer it under one license. One ISL Online licence enables users to subscribe to all four products: remote desktop support, remote access, live chat and web conferencing. The ISL Online’s move to All-in-One licensing was unique among online collaboration software providers and immediately shot them to the very top. C’t magazine for example, evaluated ISL Online’s remote desktop software as the best among 22 tested solutions. ISL Light scored better than WebEx, TeamViewer, Fastviewer, and much better than GoToMyPC, Netviewer and the rest. Meanwhile, the UK’s PC Pro magazine labelled ISL Online as the “only choice” for support operations.

ISL Light today
Up until now, ISL Light has been upgraded numerous times. The latest 3.3.4 version works on Windows, Mac and Linux and lets you do turbo desktop sharing, text chat, audio and video communication, easy file transfer via Windows Explorer’s “Send to” option, remote printing, session recording, multi-monitor support, remote reboot and reconnect, extended customisation, external authentication, branded access point, user management and various reports. It also uses 30 interface localisations.

Mobile
Mobile, mobile, mobile… reading the news, reviews and blogs on the Web, one can get a feeling that everything is in fact mobile nowadays. ISL Online, too, has gone mobile and one can download remote desktop free from the App Store and use it on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Windows Phone users can download remote access here. Now, it’s easy to imagine Android enthusiasts tapping their fingers on the table impatiently, so let me give you a hint: the word is out that ISL Online for Android is coming very soon…so, please stay tuned!

Before you decide on using a paid screen sharing service, consider testing free alternatives first. Whether you are a student, a solo entrepreneur, a start-up or merely an organization with limited resources, you can save with a free screen sharing solution, especially if you need it only a few times a month. There are plenty of free options available on the market, some offering ad-supported services, some services limited in functionality, some in the number of participants, some curtailing the length of a meeting, etc.

TeamHangout lets you share screen and do a video conference directly from Facebook.

One screen sharing service, Team Hangout, is new in the market but seems to fulfil all mainstream online collaboration needs. Organizing and joining a new online meeting is web-based, doesn’t require user registrations, whereas all meetings are started ad-hoc without any computer preparations through a simple invitation form. Once everyone is gathered in a face-to-face meeting over the web, the room actually offers all ISL Groop online meeting (vendor’s licensed software) capabilities; anything from video conferencing with automatic sound and video device detection, simple screen sharing, application or region sharing, live annotations, PowerPoint slides import, file sharing, and probably the most important thing – tight security with 256-bit AES and X.509 certificates.

The first thing that will strike you as a new user of Team Hangout is its simplicity. You go to teamhangout.com, start a new Hangout, invite your friends, co-workers, clients or partners, and enter a web conference. To simplify things even further, Team Hangout skips all the initial hassle that most other video conferencing services usually surprise you with. A video conference turns on automatically as soon as you enter the conference room. In fact, Team Hangout selects also the best recording device automatically and supports hot-plugging of USB audio devices, meaning you can plug in extra audio devices during a conference call and seamlessly switch to a new audio device if it proves more suitable. So, only seconds after entering a new meeting, everyone can join in a spirited debate.

Other than video conferencing, Team Hangout offers standard functionality like other mainstream web conferencing software (WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc.). To use it, it’s best to switch from the presentation to the conference layout first. There you will find the text chat, which can be shown publicly or privately between the chosen participants, screen sharing (see Tips on sharing screen), and easy import of PowerPoint slides. You can also dig into advanced functionality and create a blank slide, to which you add the content afterwards with screen clipping and copying texts. Or you can share files, use annotation tools to comment on live or static content, record sessions for later playback, give different meeting roles to your online team members, and switch between the “work alone” or the “follow presentation” mode (see Tips on advanced web conferencing).

Meet online with Facebook friends
The easiest way to meet up with your friends to share screen and perform a video conference is via Team Hangout’s free Facebook application. Once you have connected the free app available on teamhangout.com to your Facebook account, you can use it anytime and meet online with all of your friends.

Inviting your Facebook friends to an online meeting is fast and easy since you only need to select them from your friends list. Although, it’s partly reliant on your Facebook friends list, there is an alternative way to invite outsiders to join you in a screen sharing meeting. You can invite more (non-Facebook) people directly from your Hangout by providing their email addresses.

Now that you’ve got all the ingredients, all you need to do is to Team up and Hang out! But first tell me this; free screen sharing software: yes or no? Let me know in the comments.

ISL Online’s SaaS achieved an amazing 99.9667% uptime in 2010, meaning it was globally available 365/24/7 except for 2 hours and 55 minutes, mostly reserved for the scheduled cloud infrastructure maintenance. Their SaaS subscribers also received about 30 updates and new versions of the four online collaboration software products immediately after being added to the applications, thus providing direct treatment for bugs and commissioning solutions faster than in-house facilities.

ISL Online SaaS’s high availability rate is ensured by a proprietary communication platform based on a worldwide network of dedicated servers. Currently, dedicated servers hosted by more than 50 professional and industry-proven data centres around the world comprise the ISL Online Private Cloud Network offering a lot of benefits to SaaS users such as fault tolerance, active-active backup, load balancing, distributed session roaming, and GeoDNS technology. In layman’s terms, ISL Online’s SaaS can be used from anywhere, anytime and one always receives the best possible service as the Private Cloud Network’s own brain takes care of directing new sessions to the nearest and the most load-free server, and even seamlessly shifts active sessions to the next most optimal server if the first one fails for some reason or other. To get a rough idea of how big ISL Online SaaS’s Private Cloud Network actually is – it hosted more than 5 million sessions in 2010 with the heaviest of users creating over 250,000 sessions per year.

See how ISL Online technologies evolved through the years.

Another general issue of SaaS, which ISL Online handles extremely well, is data security. ISL Online users share great confidence in data security since there has not been a single incident to date that could have in any way undermined their trust. When it comes to security, ISL Online carefully chooses servers in only highly reliable and industry-proven data centres with modern facilities and equipment such as redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communication connections, environmental controls (e.g. air conditioning, fire suppression) and security devices. Their data security is enhanced with a strict policy for storing administration passwords and the highest AES 256-bit end-to-end encryption (SSL), which fully protects the content of users’ remote support, remote access, live chat or web conferencing sessions from third parties.

Although the SaaS business model is by far the most popular among ISL Online users due to its excellent performance, security, ease of use and the fact that it avoids costs, time and effort associated with implementing and maintaining conventional software, there are about 10% of users, mostly larger organisations, who prefer an on-premises installation and a ‘hybrid’ or ‘private’ cloud architecture.

The ISL Online software installation comes in a package called Server License and is perfect for companies that require full independence and control over the system due to privacy and security requirements. When using the Server License, connections are established through the customer’s server(s), keeping all data such as user information and session history in a closed corporate environment. In line with expectations, Server License offers more customisation and integration possibilities such as full adaptation of applications (skin, texts, logo) and external authentication through central directories such as OpenLDAP, Microsoft Active Directory, Novell eDirectory and RADIUS.

The latest big thing in the IT world is to incorporate all cloud computing benefits into an on-premises software installation. ISL Online has taken a step forward and offered a Private Cloud running their software exclusively. Successfully used by organisations such as the Ministry of Public Administration of Slovenia and Teleroute, the ISL Online Private Cloud consists of at least two servers, provided by the customer, which have an ISL installation and are connected to a corporate Internet communications network. Nevertheless, the network is fully scalable. More servers can be added anytime according to the organisation’s growing needs. Additionally, one can achieve improved performance for all users if dispersed around the globe by keeping servers in multiple locations. In this way, the organisation also lessens the impact on cloud security in the case of any environmental hazards such as fires, earthquakes and floods.

Anyway, lessons boil down to this: deploy software in a way that suits your needs. Thanks to ISL Online’s advanced technological commitment, their users can get remote support, remote access, live chat and web conferencing software as a service with as much as 99.9667% uptime, achieve greater control with the on-premises software installation, or even combine the benefits in a Private Cloud. The choice is yours.

Anyhow, the remote desktop and web conferencing provider, ISL Online, has recently launched a free web conferencing service called Team Hangout, which is based on their nifty online meeting software, ISL Groop. Team Hangout lets you start a free face-to-face meeting over the web in seconds and collaborate online with screen sharing and video conferencing. There are no time or user limitations, no advertisements, and you get to use unlimited ISL Groop functionality once you are in an online meeting. You can start a new meeting either through teamhangout.com or connect the free app to Facebook.

Free web meeting functionality
• Video conferencing: live chat, VoIP audio, webcam video.
• Automatic sound and video device detection – no settings required.
• USB audio device hot-plugging during a web conference.
• Share live content: screen sharing, application sharing, region sharing.
• Share static content: PowerPoint presentation, images, clipboard content, a snapshot of live screen, text.
• File sharing.
• Annotations: text, arrows, highlighter, pen.
• Highest security: AES 256 Bit SSL, X.509 certificates.

Connect with Facebook
The easiest way to meet up with your friends to share screen and do a video conference is via Team Hangout’s free Facebook application. Once you have connected the app from teamhangout.com to your Facebook account, you can use it anytime and meet online with all of your Facebook friends. Although, it’s partly reliant on your Facebook friends list, there is an alternative way to invite people to join you in a screen sharing meeting. You can invite more (non-Facebook) people directly from your Hangout by providing their email addresses.

Meet online from teamhangout.com
If you’re not a Facebook user, don’t worry about it, you can also start a free web conference from teamhangout.com. Just visit the page, hoover over the main circle and click ‘Start a Hangout’. To the contrary to fast invitations of your Facebook friends, where all you need to do is check them on your friends list, starting a new Team Hangout from teamhangout.com demands a bit more effort as you need to enter email addresses of all the people you want to meet online.

Privacy of your online meeting
The reason to use Team Hangout as a Facebook app rather than from teamhangout.com is also better privacy. Even though your friends could eventually see when you are in a Team Hangout meeting and join your meeting, that’s actually a very unusual scenario. To do that, your friends should open the TeamHangout app in Facebook just at the time you were using it and click to join your circle. On the other hand, your live Team Hangout created from the page teamhangout.com is public and can be seen and joined by everyone visiting the webpage.

If I ranked different online meetings by their level of privacy, I would have to rank the one created from teamhangout.com the lowest as it is public and thus mainly used for testing purposes. Facebook’s Team Hangout assures much better privacy but can still be entered by others with a bit of effort and luck. Nevertheless, Team Hangout as a Facebook app is recommended for casual informal online get-togethers with friends, students or study groups for home studies, remote co-workers for informal meetings, small groups for quick online information sharing, small businesses and more. On the highest rank lies the original meeting software, ISL Groop, which ensures 100% privacy and is thus perfect for secure web conferencing in businesses of all sizes.

Now, all you need to do is to Team up and Hang out!

Other improvements of the new ISL Light iOS include:

• Easy computer search within the list of remotely available devices.
• One-time login password support available for users of Server License and central authentication service RADIUS.
• Automatic logout when the session ends.
• Read more in release info.

Visit App Store and download ISL Light iOS for free.

ISL Light iOS features (remote support & access):

• Connect to any computer even behind a firewall
• View remote screen
• Switch between multiple monitors
• Screen resolution adjusted automatically
• Remotely control the keyboard and mouse
• Use special keys such as Ctrl, Alt, Windows® and function keys
• Send Ctrl+Alt+Del to remote computer
• Switch between left and right mouse click
• Reboot a remote computer and resume the session
• ISSC Turbo Desktop Sharing
• Connections are secured by symmetrical AES-256 encryption

Hey, do you like the updated ISL Light iOS? Let us know in the comments what you like about the new app and what you think should be improved in the next update. Thanks!

Name: Stephen Yarrow
Occupation: Managing director
Organization: Laptop & PC Repairs
Location: Stanmore, UK
Business: Supporting 500+ clients
Solution employed: ISL Online Hosted Service (SaaS)

You are a team of five but you manage to support more than 500 clients. How do you do it?
We had the number of our customers increase considerably a few years ago due to a strong word of mouth and customer recommendations. Coping with the big growth, the biggest challenge became time, having to be in two or three places at the same time. That is why I started looking around the remote desktop support software market and finally decided for the ISL Online’s SaaS solution. It has since provided flexible remote access and maximum performance at a moderate price, leaving us with a possibility to scale the service up to the company needs as the business grows. We have been using the remote support and access tool for more than three years now, doing an average of 100 remote sessions per month as an addition to the classic telephone support, and it has always worked like a charm.

Did you have a tough time deciding which remote desktop solution was right for you?
Not really. First, I was aiming at the big well-known names but was not convinced by their level of security. Then after getting a tip from my friend, I investigated and tested ISL Online thoroughly during a free trial period and was finally convinced by its speed, multi-platform support, reliability and constant availability, and most importantly by the security that the product guaranteed. The latter seems to be an aspect of remote control software of paramount importance to me and my clients.

You joined the ISL Online’s resellers network last year. Tell us more about your decision?
From the very beginning I was impressed with the performance of the ISL Online remote support software but at one point my enthusiasm got so big that I decided to join ISL Online as a reseller. The turning point was a call from one of my clients, who lives 12,000 miles away in Melbourne. He wasn’t able to print from his PCs to a printer. With ISL Online remote support tool I took over the control of his desktop and fixed some share issues. In a matter of minutes all of the PCs were printing fine again. I also tried ISL Online’s remote printing from my local computer to the client’s printer and that worked smoothly as well. Both the client and I were impressed at how simply and fast we solved the problems. It’s really a premium remote support software and I’m happy to offer it on the UK market.

About Laptop & PC Repairs
A small team of five mainly supports small and medium-sized businesses and private homes by solving computer issues, specialising on laptop repair, virus protection and removal, wireless network security and data recovery as well as web design and secure hosting. Their business has grown by word of mouth and customer recommendation and today Laptop & PC Repairs support more than 500 customers, offering remote support also to the clients in Australia, and intend to open another company in Bulgaria.

Gorazd, the author of the winning story, just sent me a few photos from his vacation in Turkey. Looks like he can’t do without his new iPad nor ISL Online even on a sunny beach in Turkish Riviera.

Thanks Gorazd for the photos and wish you luck on the next contest.

Ministry of Public Administration of Slovenia started using ISL Light iOS remote desktop just weeks after its release. Gregor Škerlep, the senior advisor at the ministry comments introduction of ISL Light iOS in their organization: “We instantly accepted it. Our internal system administrators and senior officials (Director General, Secretaries General) can now administer servers or access their own PC workstations from virtually anywhere using their iPads or iPhones.”

Skipping every hassle with remote computer’s firewall or NAT proxies, ISL Light iOS enables users to instantly connect, view and control remote screen using their proprietary ISSC Turbo Desktop Sharing technology. During the remote access, the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owner can also use a full-function keyboard, send ctrl-alt-del, switch between multiple monitors, reboot the remote computer and resume the same session, and use other features that let them normally work on the remote computer. Finally, remote connections are tightly secured by symmetrical AES-256 encryption.

“With remote access working on Apple mobile devices, we are attracting more and more individuals seeking mobile access from their iPhone and iPad,” reveals Jure Pompe, the CEO of the mother company ISL Online. “Nevertheless, more than 95% of our customers remain business users with a whopping 90% staying loyal and extending their subscription every year. This might also be a result of the ISL Online unique pricing. The price of our yearly subscription hasn’t changed since 2003, but offers now four pieces of software – remote support & access, live chat and web conferencing – plus free mobile add-ons to all ISL Online customers.”

Considering that Jobs crowning achievement, the iPad, currently dominates the media tablets market with an incredible 69% market share, and with iPhone at 18% of the worldwide smartphone market share, ISL Online expects more users by the end of the year. Indeed, in a combination with an Apple’s mobile device ISL Light iOS becomes the ultimate road warrior for businesses of all sizes.