by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Earlier this month, remote access enabler LogMeIn released it’s latest version of LogMeIn Rescue, the company’s help desk and troubleshooting support product. Remote access use has gone up substantially in the last few years as technology and demand have converged to create more flexible, universal and accessible work platforms. Along with this rising trend has come increasing demand for features, flexibility and on-demand tech support.

“A new generation of Internet-based PC remote support tools is disrupting the commoditized remote-control market,” according to David Coyle, research vice president, Gartner, Inc. “These new tools have several advantages including remote-control support for anyone, ease of implementation and greater cost flexibility. They are gaining popularity among internal IT and external service providers as the employees, customers and partners they support are increasingly mobile and beyond the reach of traditional IT support tools.”

This latest version of LogMeIn Rescue builds on the product’s flexibility by allowing multiple technicians and/or customers to collaborate and troubleshoot problems at the same time through a variety of features including screen sharing by multiple users and instant chat capabilities.

Another interesting innovation is LogMeIn Rescue’s “below the OS” connectivity. By taking advantage of Intel’s vPro technology, it allows technicians to expand what is possible to do remotely and access computers via the Internet — even if the computer is turned off or if the operating system is unavailable due to hardware or software failure.

As computing becomes more mobile and more cloud based we will see more demand for secure, adaptable, multi-person and multi-pointaccessible remote access products like this one. In fact, how well remote access evolves may help determine overall computing and work styles in the future. The latest versionLogMeIn Rescue is just another small evolutionary step towards the next generation of even more universally accessible computing.