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Citrix's GoToAssist: Next Best Thing to Being There: Page 4 of 5

For security, Citrix maintains Web servers or brokers that generate AES session keys to agents and customers. The brokers hand off sessions to clustered communication servers that bring an agent and a customer together over a secure, 128-bit AES encrypted channel.

Citrix's managed service is a good alternative to distributing a remote-control application for large organizations. And its annual subscription fee seems manageable, considering one agent can support an unlimited number of customers.

Sean Doherty is a technology editor and lawyer based at our Syracuse University Real-World Labs®. Write to him at [email protected].

Agent specs:

I downloaded a HelpAlert application (5.5 MB) from Citrix's download center onto an IBM ThinkPad T-41 (Pentium M 512 MB of RAM) to get started. This Windows (95/98/2000/Me/NT4/XP) executable file requires no installation and runs in 5.66 MB RAM. For optimal agent performance, Citrix recommends a 300-MHz Pentium processor or better with 64 MB of RAM and a stable Internet connection with ISDN speed (64 Kbps to 128 Kbps) or better. You also need to make direct, outgoing TCP connections. GTA uses TCP Ports 8200, 80, and 443. Once the application is in memory, a number of helper files are downloaded to a temporary directory for added functionality. These files add to the memory requirements of the agent when specific features are invoked, e.g., file transfer (g2a_filee.exe, 192 KB), chat (g2a_query.exe, 655 KB), and screen share viewer (g2a_viewer.exe, 372 KB).

Customer Specs:

Customers will need at least a Pentium PC with a Windows OS and Internet Explorer or Netscape Browser 4.0 or higher with at least a 28.8-Kbps Internet connection. If customers solicit help from an agent over the phone, the agent provides an access URL. To get help over the Internet, customers go to a portal assigned to the GTA account.