Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Selects GoToMyPC Corporate for Security and Cost Advantages.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2004

Managed Service Decreases Need for Laptop Leasing While Providing

Secure Remote Access to Key Database Systems

In a move to increase the security and lower the costs associated with its remote-access infrastructure, the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services has selected GoToMyPC Corporate(TM) as its solution of choice. The agency, which is tasked with protecting the interests of children, the elderly and the disabled, is using the secure, managed remote-access service to provide mobile employees who are working remotely with critical access to its central database.

According to the agency, the high cost of managing laptop-leasing programs and associated security issues were the key motivators for making the change to GoToMyPC Corporate. "Laptops offered our highly mobile workforce an essential productivity solution, but security concerns due to lost or stolen laptops and intensive budget tightening caused us to look for a better alternative," says Shirley Scott, IT Operations Manager for the 6,500-employee agency. "We selected GoToMyPC Corporate because it enabled us to significantly reduce dependency on laptops while meeting our needs for ease of use and stringent security to protect our confidential case loads."

The GoToMyPC Corporate remote-access solution is built on screen sharing, which gives it built-in protection against compromised machines. Unlike a VPN, no direct network access is granted to the end user via the remote computer. The end-to-end encrypted and compressed information flowing between the machines during a remote-access session is screen data only; all processing and network access is managed by the secure host PC back at the office. With GoToMyPC Corporate, an IT administrator has the ability to disable File Transfer, Remote Printing and Guest Invite so nothing can be unintentionally transferred from the end user's machine into the corporate network -- including viruses, worms or other malicious exploits.

Ease of support was also important to the decision to migrate to GoToMyPC Corporate, according to Scott. "Our VPN remote-access solution was difficult to support because employees had so many different PC models and platforms," she says. "GoToMyPC Corporate is independent of these considerations, making it very easy for IT technical staff to administer and for employees to securely use from non-agency equipment." This year, with the implementation of GoToMyPC Corporate, the agency was able to reduce its annual laptop order by more than 55 percent, allowing the agency to meet budgetary goals.

The agency's experience in cost reduction is consistent with findings from a new research report conducted by network security technologies firm Core Competence, Inc. The report compares the costs of GoToMyPC Corporate to those of IPSec and SSL VPNs for remote access and concludes that companies can have significant savings with GoToMyPC Corporate. "A managed service such as GoToMyPC Corporate that requires no capital outlay in laptops, nor any capital investment in premise equipment, can significantly lower costs of remote access," says Lisa Phifer, vice president of Core Competence.

The GoToMyPC Corporate Web-based managed service enables the agency's employees to quickly and securely access their computers while away from the office. The agency has seen an increase in employee productivity and flexibility because field staff can now telework or enter case notes into the legacy database from their home computers at the end of the day instead of returning to the office.

Implementing GoToMyPC Corporate enables the agency to meet compliance with mandated telework laws. Public Law No. 106-346, enacted in October 2000, makes the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for federal agencies responsible for getting 100% of eligible employees teleworking by April 2004. Some state agencies may also follow suit.

"We are also beginning to identify benefits that we did not originally predict," says Scott. "Because we have been directed to reduce costs for facilities, some managers are experimenting with consolidating office space by offering employees the opportunity to work part-time from home and share their private offices with others who do the same, but on alternate days. We are looking at this option very closely where it applies, as it softens the blow for staff who have been previously accustomed to having privacy at work."

"Government organizations are increasingly looking for solutions that maximize efficiencies for their resource-strapped IT departments," says Brian Donahoo, senior vice president of client services for Expertcity, Inc. "Texas Department of Family and Protective Services' experience is a testament to how substantial savings can be achieved with GoToMyPC Corporate, since it is far less costly and complex for implementation, training and maintenance, compared to traditional VPN remote-access solutions."

Advanced security features ensure that network resources and information are never compromised. GoToMyPC Corporate offers multi-level security controls that ensure complete data privacy, including one-time passwords, strong authentication and 128-bit end-to-end encryption. Robust management features enable plan administrators to easily and efficiently manage accounts in real time, control users' feature-access rights and run usage reports. GoToMyPC Corporate leverages TruSecure-certified security infrastructure and lets organizations maintain compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).

About Expertcity

Expertcity, Inc. is the leading provider of managed real-time Web-based remote-access and customer-support technologies. The company's award-winning screen-sharing technology enables users to securely view and control a remote computer. Expertcity offers two products: GoToAssist(TM), a complete managed service that enables support centers and help desks to rapidly and seamlessly deliver virtual on-site support; and GoToMyPC(R), a remote-access solution that enables individual users and enterprises, through the GoToMyPC Corporate managed service, to access and work on their PCs from any Internet location. The products consistently win best-in-class awards and reviews, including PC World's World-Class Award, PC Magazine's Editor's Choice Award, Customer Inter@ction's coveted CRM Excellence Award, Network World's Category Breaker Award and CNET's prestigious Editors' Choice Award. Expertcity has more than 4,000 corporate clients worldwide, including Cisco Systems, Siemens, Sun Microsystems, Verizon, Best Software, Intuit, Cablevision and Microsoft Business Solutions. Founded in 1997, Expertcity is privately held, with financial backing by Sun Microsystems, CNET, Bertelsmann Ventures and SoundView Ventures. The company is headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, with its European operations based in the U.K. In December 2003, Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Expertcity. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2004.