1. Remote Support Services Comparison Matrix
Instant Housecall Enterprise
Techinline Remote Desktop
BeAnywhere Support Express
iRemotePC Private Label
Webex Remote Support
https://secure.logmeinrescue.com/
http://www.instanthousecall.com/
http://www.01com.com/imoncall/
ShowMyPC Enterprise
Teamviewer Premium
https://secure.beanywhere.com/
http://www.beam2support.com/
Laplink RemoteAssist
http://www.24x7remote.com/
http://www.teamviewer.com/
RealVNC Enterprise
GoToAssist Express
Netviewer Support
http://www.gotoassist.com/
http://www.iremotepc.com/
http://www.ntrglobal.com/
Fog Creek Copilot
http://www.netviewer.ru/
https://www.copilot.com/
http://www.realvnc.com/
NTR Support Pro
LogMeIn Rescue
http://www.isllight.com/
http://www.laplink.com/
http://www.webex.com/
http://www.myivo.com/
http://showmypc.com/
Beam2Support
http://techinline.com
24x7 Remote
I'm On Call
MyIVO
Isllight
No download/install P O O O O O O O O O O O O O P O P P O
Browser based P O P P O O O O P O O O O O P O P P P
File Transfer P P P P P P P P P P P O P P P P P P P
2-way desktop sharing
P P P P O P O P P P O O P P P P P P O
Share local control P O O P O P O P P O O O O O P P O O O
Security 128-bit 256- 128-bit 128-bit 256-Bit 128-bit 256-bit 256-Bit 256-bit 168-bit 128-bit 2048- 256 Bit 128-Bit 128-bit 128-bit
https SSH unkonwn
SSL bit SSL AES AES AES SSL SSL AES SSL 3DES SSl bit RCA AES SSL SSl SSl
Firewall/Proxy Friendly
P P P P P P P P P P P P O O P P P P P
Screen Auto Scroll or
P O O O P O O O O P O O O P O P P O O
Auto Scale
Multimonitor Support P P P P O P O O O O P O O P O P P O O
Multiple sessions O P P P P P O P O O P P O O P P P O P
Session Reports P P P P O P O O P P P O P P O P O O P
Session Recording O P P O O O O P O P P O O P O P O P O
Customization P O P O O P P P P P P P O P O P P P O
Auto reboot O P P P O P O O P O P O O P O P P P O
Unattended Access O O O P P P O O O O P O P O P P P O O
Chat P P P P P P O P P P P O O P O P P P O
Mac support O P P P P P P P P O O O O P O P O O O
Mobile Devices WM,
O O S, B
O O O O O O O O O O O O O WM, B O O
Pay as you go
$20 /5 $9.95 $0.25 $140/ $9.95 /
n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
sessions /day /min 500 min session
Annual unlimited $50 / € 290+ $490/
$1788 $100 / $1399 / $999.95 $5000 /
subscription $300 $1188 $660 remote $588 $499 $588 $550 € 468 $1068 $399 599 / 3 $750
/ seat machine
console
license licenses
lifetime /license 50 seats
WM - Windows Mobile
B - Blackberry
S - Symbian

2. Main Criteria For Decision: 1) Ease of use: Offering remote assistance to novice PC users can often turn out to be a struggle, and therefore discovering
a simple and straightforward connection process was one of the main requirements
2) Customization Options: We offer support to a number of corporate clients whch have strict guidelines in place for dealing with external "partners". Any mention
of a 3rd party solution for remote access is a major drawback in our situation.
3) Price vs. Overall Functionality: One of the main goals of the analysis was to find a solution solid balance between price and performance, thereby avoiding
overpaying for unnecessary features.
Main Candidates: GoToAssist Express, Techinline, Teamviewer, LogMeIn Rescue Slightly Missed the "Cut": ISL Light, NTR Support, Webex Remote
Support
EASE OF USE
LogMeIn's connection process seems to be relatively simple, but requires a few "back and forth" steps between the remote user and the support
agent. Overall, I counted about 5 steps to establish a connection. Teamviewer's connection process requires installing an executable on the remote
user's end. This is something that we tried to avoid in the first place, as a number of users who we deliver support to are not comfortable with
anything being installed on their desktops. Techinline is entirely browser-based which allows us to avoid any installation or download apart from a
browser add-on (which did give some trouble to novice PC users). Overall, the connection process is the reversal of what we found in LogMeIn Rescue
(remote user "initiates" the session instead of the tech by obtaining a generic number) and is a bit shorter. GoToAssist Express offers a very easy
connection process without any required downloads or installations. It is very straightforward and easy, as well as short: only 3 steps required.
CUSTOMIZATION
LogMeIn Rescue provides integration capability. There is a white paper available on their website which shows how this can be implemented. Unfortunately, the
integration process appears rather difficult and requires an extra fee, therefore I did not get a chance to explore these options in-depth. Teamviewer allows the
customer module to be customized with your company's own logo as well as a branded "welcoming" note. This is included in the price of their solution. The
executable can be offered as a download from one's own website, which is a big plus. Techinline allows to integrate the service page into your own website design
as well as customize the interface of the service by adding company logo, text, and fonts. This is included in the price and is available with the free trial of their
service as well. I was dissapointed to find that GoToAssist Express does not offer any branding or customization capability.
PRICE/OVERALL FUNCTIONALITY

3. LogMeIn appears to be the most fully-featured solution on the market. Unfortunately, the price is also steep if you are not looking to utilize a vast
majority of their features. Although the drawing tools and diagnostics are useful from time to time, the price of $120/month for this functionality is
probably not appealing to most SMBs, especially in the current economic environment. Teamviewer requires a "lifetime charge" of $1399. This is
attractive if you leave out a number of factors such as: future upgrades, support, life cycle of Teamviewer itself, etc. Each upgrade comes at an
additional cost, which is a major drawback. Techinline is priced at $300/year, and offers a "pay as you go" pricing model as well (obviously not
applicable to us as it is intended for sporadic use). Although lacking some of the functionality offered by its competitors (no Mac support, unattended
access, diagnostics, and multiple connections), it is priced at a quarter of LogMeIn Rescue. It is probably a solid fit for users who do not require
enterprise-level functionality and only a single connection at a time. GoToAssist Express seems to find a very good balance between pricing (also have
"pay as you go") and functionality. It offers most of the essential features and is very easy to use. Their yearly rates are $600 per technician, which also
allows to run multiple simultaneous connections.