September 2024 - Developer Nation Blog

Top 10 Remote Access Software Tools for Seamless Connectivity in 2024

As remote work continues to be the norm, the demand for efficient and secure remote access software has never been higher. Businesses need tools that not only provide seamless connectivity but also ensure security, reliability, and ease of use. Here, we delve into the top 10 remote access software tools of 2024, each offering unique features to cater to a variety of needs.

1. Zoho Assist

Overview: Zoho Assist is a comprehensive remote access and support solution that caters to businesses of all sizes. With its cloud-based architecture, it allows IT professionals to provide remote support and access unattended computers from anywhere.

Key Features:

Unattended remote access
Multi-platform support (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Screen sharing, file transfer, and chat capabilities
Integration with other Zoho products like Zoho Desk and Zoho CRM

Pricing: Zoho Assist offers a free plan for one user with basic features. Paid plans start at $10 per month.

2. Atera

Overview: Atera is an all-in-one remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform that includes remote access features. It’s designed primarily for managed service providers (MSPs) and IT professionals, offering a range of tools for monitoring, managing, and supporting IT infrastructure remotely.

Key Features:

Remote desktop and file transfer capabilities
Automated patch management
Real-time alerts and monitoring
Integration with PSA (Professional Services Automation) tools

Pricing: Atera’s pricing is subscription-based, starting at $79 per technician per month.

3. ManageEngine Remote Access Plus

Overview: ManageEngine Remote Access Plus is a powerful remote access tool designed for IT teams. It provides advanced features for troubleshooting and managing remote endpoints, making it a preferred choice for enterprises with extensive IT infrastructure.

Key Features:

Remote control with multi-monitor support
Remote file transfer and command execution
Video recording of remote sessions
Support for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Pricing: ManageEngine Remote Access Plus offers a free edition for up to 10 computers, with paid plans starting at $95 per technician per year.

4. Zendesk Remote

Overview: Zendesk Remote is part of the Zendesk Suite, which is widely known for customer support solutions. Zendesk Remote integrates remote access directly into customer service workflows, enabling support teams to assist customers efficiently.

Key Features:

Seamless integration with Zendesk Support
Remote control and screen sharing
Session recording for quality assurance
Real-time chat and communication during support sessions

Pricing: Zendesk Remote is included in the Zendesk Suite, with plans starting at $49 per agent per month.

5. Zoho Remotely

Overview: Zoho Remotely is a remote work suite designed to help teams stay connected and productive from anywhere. While it includes a variety of collaboration tools, its remote access capabilities are a standout feature for businesses looking to manage remote teams effectively.Integrating effective email marketing software in USA alongside these tools can further enhance your communication strategy, allowing you to reach your audience with targeted campaigns and optimise business outcomes.

Key Features:

Remote desktop access
Project management and collaboration tools
Secure file storage and sharing
Integrated communication via chat, video, and voice

Pricing: Zoho Remotely offers a free plan with limited features, while paid plans start at $10 per user per month.

6. Freshservice

Overview: Freshservice is an IT service management (ITSM) tool that includes robust remote access capabilities. It’s designed to help IT teams manage and support their organizations’ technology infrastructure, making it an excellent choice for medium to large enterprises. corporating payroll software alongside tools like Freshservice ensures that businesses can manage both their IT infrastructure

Key Features:

Remote control and screen sharing for troubleshooting
Automated workflows for incident management
Asset management and configuration management database (CMDB)
Integration with other Freshworks products

Pricing: Freshservice plans start at $19 per agent per month.

7. ISL Online

Overview: ISL Online is a remote desktop software solution known for its reliability and security. It’s particularly popular among IT support teams and customer service departments that require secure, fast, and easy-to-use remote access tools.

Key Features:

Remote desktop access with high-security standards
Unattended access and session recording
Cross-platform support (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)
Branding and customization options

Pricing: ISL Online offers flexible pricing options, with a basic plan starting at $145 per year.

8. Wayk Now

Overview: Wayk Now is a versatile remote desktop access tool designed for IT professionals who need to manage and support remote systems. It provides an easy-to-use interface combined with powerful features to ensure seamless remote access.

Key Features:

Instant remote access without prior installation
Cross-platform support (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Secure file transfer and clipboard sharing
Integrated chat and collaboration tools

Pricing: Wayk Now offers a free version with basic features, and paid plans start at $15 per user per month.

9. SpatialChat

Overview: SpatialChat is a remote collaboration tool with a focus on creating virtual workspaces. While not a traditional remote access tool, it provides a unique way for remote teams to interact and collaborate in a virtual environment, making it ideal for distributed teams.

Key Features:

Virtual meeting rooms with spatial audio
Screen sharing and media sharing
Customizable virtual office layouts
Integration with other collaboration tools

Pricing: SpatialChat offers a free plan with limited features, and paid plans start at $49 per month.

10. Loop Team

Overview: Loop Team is designed to replicate the in-office experience for remote teams, offering a platform that combines video conferencing, messaging, and collaboration with remote access features. It’s ideal for teams that want to maintain a high level of communication and collaboration while working remotely.

Key Features:

Persistent virtual rooms for ongoing team collaboration
Screen sharing and remote control capabilities
Meeting recording and transcription
Integration with productivity tools like Slack and Google Workspace

Pricing: Loop Team offers a free version with basic features, with paid plans starting at $8 per user per month.

Conclusion

The diverse range of remote access tools available in 2024 ensures that businesses and individuals can find the perfect solution to meet their needs. Whether you require a robust IT management platform like ManageEngine Remote Access Plus, an all-in-one remote work suite like Zoho Remotely, or a unique virtual collaboration environment like SpatialChat, there’s a tool to fit every scenario. As remote work continues to evolve, these tools will play a critical role in ensuring that teams stay connected, productive, and secure, no matter where they are in the world.

Accelerating IoT development using Cloud workflow with Arm virtual hardware

Having spent significant time in the realm of embedded systems and IoT development, I’ve consistently encountered challenges related to initial setup and scaling to production. Chip selection, a pivotal aspect of this process, often involves meticulous shortlisting of microcontrollers and architectures, followed by the acquisition of development boards and prototyping to identify the most suitable chipset. Not to mention the lead times and chip shortage problems, this is merely the beginning.

Once this initial step is complete, the journey extends to establishing IDEs, debuggers, test environments, and other development, testing, collaborating and shipping tools. This process can be arduous, difficult to scale, and often discouraging. Yet, as those familiar with my work know, I’ve consistently been vocal about the bridging of the gap between hardware/IoT/embedded and software/cloud development, thanks to new product lifecycle management workflows and DevOps practises.

Cloud developers have long enjoyed the luxury of robust tools and streamlined software lifecycles. The ability to scale from a single server instance to thousands with a simple click, facilitated by Docker Containers, Kubernetes, and DevOps workflows like CI/CD, has been a major draw for embedded developers.

One such innovation that brings IoT developers closer to this cloud-native model is Arm’s Virtual Hardware on the cloud. Let’s talk more about that in this blog and see how it fits into the bigger picture starting from:

Pain Points in Traditional Embedded and IoT Development

Developing for embedded and IoT applications involves numerous challenges, including:

Hardware Dependencies: Reliance on physical hardware can significantly delay development cycles, as changes often require new hardware or software modifications.
Long Shipping Delays and Chip Shortages: Procuring specialised hardware can be time-consuming, especially during chip shortages (a major impact seen during the COVID-19 pandemic), hindering development progress.
Limited Testing Environments: Testing embedded software on physical hardware can be resource-intensive and requires specialised custom jigs, debuggers, physical access, Test and Measurement equipment and much more.
Integration Challenges: Coordinating hardware and software development teams can be difficult, leading to delays and potential integration issues.

How Arm Virtual Hardware Changes the Game

Arm Virtual Hardware addresses these challenges by providing a virtualised environment where developers can simulate and test embedded and IoT applications without relying on physical hardware. This offers several key benefits:

Faster Time to Market: AVH accelerates development cycles by enabling testing and debugging early in the process, reducing the time it takes to bring products to market.
Development Without Hardware: Developers can start working on their applications before physical hardware is available, saving time and resources, which is very helpful when you’re in the process of deciding the hardware or ordering dev boards.
Bridging the Gap Between Hardware and Software: AVH fosters collaboration between hardware and software teams by providing a common platform for testing and integration.
Enabling Cloud Workflows and DevOps: Thanks to AVH, you can now use most of the tools cloud developers have to ship products faster into the market. Virtual hardware can be integrated into cloud-based development environments, enabling DevOps practices and continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines.
Scalable: Firing up 200 new Virtual hardware in the cloud takes 10 seconds; compare this to testing your code in 200 new development boards; the scalability factor with Arm virtual hardware is phenomenal and a breeze regarding regression testing.

Enabling MLOps with Arm Virtual Hardware

Running ML models on the Edge compute devices is one of the most common applications where Arm-based processors are deployed today. Think of smart speakers, phones, traffic lights, cameras, etc. These products and applications can benefit greatly by adopting Arm virtual hardware in prototyping and testing life cycles.

Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) involves managing the entire lifecycle of machine learning models, from development to deployment. Using Arm virtual hardware, developers and data scientists can test their model on almost a real Arm processor, estimating the performance of different architectures and chipsets; this enables them to pick the best hardware suitable for their models, saving a lot of cost and time in development and bringing product to market. Developers can train machine learning models on virtualised Arm hardware, ensuring compatibility with target devices and architecture, enabling

Testing and Optimization: AVH can test and optimise models for performance and resource utilisation on embedded platforms.
Deployment: Once ready, models can be deployed to physical devices with little to no adaptation using AVH as a reference environment.

In Conclusion

Arm Virtual Hardware is a game-changer for embedded and IoT development. By addressing the challenges of traditional development methods, AVH enables faster time to market, improved collaboration, and enhanced flexibility. As the adoption of embedded and IoT devices grows, AVH will play a vital role in driving innovation and efficiency.

In the next blog, we will cover how to use Arm virtual hardware, but meanwhile, please help us with our new Developer Nation 25th survey …….. <UTM URL AND CTA>