​Today organizations are moving to a less centralized office model where information workers at any point in time can be travelling, working from home or at a client/partners office. This new remote information worker is mandating that technologies extend beyond the traditional office of 4 walls. This extension has spawned the concept of a virtual office where all services that are accessible within those "4 walls" are made available to users regardless of their working location or time zone. These services include features like file sharing, send/receiving faxes, email, calendar sharing, document collaboration, financial systems access and reporting, video conferencing, instant chat, and scanning.

​The traditional technology offerings were built around a LAN access (4 walls) model that required users to be within the same trusted network as the devices/servers providing these services. In order to extend these services into a true virtual office model strict security and network design topology requirements had to be overcome. In addition tot he network challenges remote threats like viruses and other related vulnerabilities had to be addressed. A good example of such threats is a remote users laptop that is located in their home and connected to an untrusted wireless network that could potentially expose any security vulnerabilities that have not been updated or addressed in a timely fashion. These vulnerabilities could creep into the trusted environment of the corporate network.

​Todays software and hardware manufacturers are realizing the critical importance of supporting and protecting remote workers. The new technologies that they have introduced are allowing for a more accessible virtual office experience for the information workers. Jolera has taken these technologies and has incorporated them into our virtual office solution.

Key pieces of a virtual office solution are the following: