IDC Forecasts Growth for Remote Access Services Software as Businesses Develop Continuity Plans.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- With tensions broiling in the Middle East, renewed threats for commercial aviation, and hurricane season upon us, businesses are assessing their risks and disaster recovery plans to meet potential security threats and natural disasters. A critical part of any disaster recovery plan is ensuring business continuity by providing employees, partners, and other constituencies with access to critical resources and data while they are away from the office. Remote access services software is one way to ensure this. According to IDC, remote access services are just now being recognized for their business continuity potential and this market is expected to experience a year-over-year growth rate of 34% through 2010.

Remote access services software has the potential to grow across many horizontal and vertical markets, IDC believes. It can be used by both consumers and businesses, as anyone with a PC is a possible customer. Remote access services use screen-sharing technology that enables one PC to stream its desktop to a remote PC by an Internet connection. Once on the remote PC, the user can access all of the applications sitting on their desktop via a Web browser. These products are offered as a service, but vendors may allow the application to be hosted within a customer's datacenter as well.

To date, remote access services products have experienced the most success in the prosumer market. Now, there is a strong push to market these services to corporations. As a result, vendors are offering more than one version of the software, often with expanded administration and control functionality for IT professionals. Interestingly, vendors have found that their prosumer customers are often the ones that provide the initial inroad for corporate adoption.

"In today's business environment, there are a number of use cases for remote access services, and business continuity is certainly a strong one," says Stacy Sudan, research analyst in IDC's Mobile Software research program. "By giving workers the ability to access their office desktop from a Web browser, remote access services software allows them to be productive from anywhere, no matter what the situation is."

This study, Worldwide Remote Access Services 2006-2010 Forecast and 2005 Vendor Shares (Doc #203078), examines the remote access services market for the period from 2005 to 2010, with vendor revenue trends and market growth forecasts. Worldwide market sizing is provided for 2005, and a five-year growth forecast for this market is shown for 2006-2010. A vendor competitive analysis, with vendor revenue and market shares of the leading vendors is provided for 2005. This study also includes profiles of leading vendors and identifies the characteristics that vendors will need to be successful in the future, as well as a leadership grid which highlights each vendor's relative positioning in the market for 2005.

To purchase this document, call IDC's Sales hotline at 508-988-7988 or email [e-mail].

About IDC

IDC is the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries. We analyze and predict technology trends so that our clients can make strategic, fact-based decisions on IT purchases and business strategy. Over 700 IDC analysts in 50 countries provide local expertise and insights on technology markets. Business executives and IT managers have relied for 40 years on our advice to make decisions that contribute to the success of their organizations.

IDC is a division of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com

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