Broadcaster Channel Five is rolling out remote access
technology that will allow staff to make programming decisions from
home. The move is part of a drive to strengthen its business
continuity planning.
Five has invested in secure remote working technology from Cisco
and RSA, and said that the system could potentially allow its
entire workforce of 300 to work from home in an emergency.
It plans to use the technology, installed by Boxing Orange, to
supplement its existing disaster recovery centre in London, which
is managed by Hewlett-Packard and has space for up to 60 staff.
"Eighty people are using remote access at the moment but we will
certainly increase it. From a disaster recovery point of view, it
is a necessity," said Ken Davis, Five's IT director.
Davis said the system, which it began rolling out 18 months ago,
has already paid for itself by allowing executives to make
last-minute changes to programme schedules or to book advertising
while they are out of the office.
The Cisco system, supplied by Boxing Orange, replaces a Shiva
dial-up system that provided remote access to 20 staff.
Users require passwords and a secure RSA smart token, which
produces a one-time pass code to log on to the system.
Communications pass through an encrypted virtual private
network.