Setting up new office. 3 employees mostly working from home

Hi Kyra and welcome to Tech Soup.


You really have two different things to consider for your employees to collaborate and communicate.

VPN is a communication method, but it has to have something to talk to on the other end. So if you had a server in place, VPN would be on method to hook up to that resource from outside your office.


Since you are starting out small, I would suggest you look at google docs and google apps. This would let you get started with email calendar sharing, collaboration space, and document storage. Your employees can work from anywhere, even from a cyber cafe with only a web browser and Internet connection.

They have free and paid versions of the service, and offer services to Non profits, and educational.

You can even use the free commercial version while your NPO gets off the ground and certified with the IRS.

http://www.google.com/apps/

I'm using google apps with one of our branches so they have their own identity and it is working very well for the price, and quite well overall.

Dave

Dave offers a very good suggestion for using Google.

If you want to go with VPN, Hamachi or Windows built-in PPTP are good options. You could then use your existing office software.

One caveat, just this last week I've been seeing lots of problems with Hamachi servers (too many connections, proxy settings) and am wondering about reliability all of a sudden. Hamachi's been a very solid performer for me in the past.

Just piling on the bandwagon: Look at Google Apps. It's powerful, free, and solves a lot of IT problems (backups, uptime, sharing calendar, sharing files, archives, collaboration, documentation, administration) in an integrated and free way.

This is on chance to go 100% Web 2.0. Someone mentioned google apps, they are OK but I still would have MS or OpenOffice on the machines. You can use scribd (www.scribd.com) to store documents once they are finished. I also would get logmein (free version) to have access to each other machines, just in case.

IMO, You do not need VPN connections between each other unless the information you are sharing is very valuable.

I also suggest using skype for conferences, the whiteboarding functions work great. You can also use Pamfax with skype to fax from your computer.

LogMeIn, Hamachi, same thing.  They bought out Hamachi about 3 years ago or so.  It's a nice easy-to-use VPN solution.  Any file sharing over the web between client PC's needs VPN.

Another option is http://www.filesanywhere.com/

I set up one client with them a year ago and it's worked nicely.  Very good support from the company.  Starts at under $10 a month.

A quick caveat: I can no longer recommend Hamachi to anyone.  I've used it very successfully for four years but in the last three weeks, the service has been plagued with very serious problems.  I have no experience with the other LogMeIn products, but Hamachi is no longer a reliable solution.

kyra

My new venture will have three employees who will mostly work from home. We will all gather together once a week at the main office which will be very small and mostly house paperwork. Since the company is 100% online there is not much need for brick and morter location until we get large enough. Trying to keep costs down.

What is the best structure for all of us having access to the same information. I saw some suggestions about VPN. Which is sorta what I use at my current job (for profit). If we all use the VPN then we would only have to back up the VPN right?

If you use Windows, the Live Share service is fairly good, particularly for collaborating on projects together.  If you did that, you wouldn't have to mess with the VPN stuff.

I would totally recommend Microsoft Groove

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/FX100487641033.aspx

 

I wouldn't recommend Groove or Windows Live, personally.  It's just a preference of mine to use Microsoft products as least often as possible - espcially if they are Microsoft technologies that are exposed to the Internet as a service.  Take a look at Untangle for creating a VPN.  I'd recoommend a VPN so you can set up some file shares and give access to your distributed colleagues.  I wouldn't want to go without some sort of centralized storage.  It can make things messy.

Given your requirements spec (3 people, low cost, 100% online), and assumption of your team members having varying individual working hours; I tend to support the suggestion of Windows Live Share (nowadays called Windows Live Sync). 

A VPN will only be effective if you have a central file server (possibly cost prohibitive); and/or at least one individual workstation online 24x7 to act as your VPN gateway and file server. In addition you would  require power filtering and an UPS, backup software, processes, a 24x7 broadband connection and physical backup device. Plus someone has to support all of this. VPN solutions may all be a problem if you are mobile workers relying on Laptops and PDA's etc. and have limited funds available for this project. Services like Windows Live Sync negate the need for purchasing all this computing and backup hardware.

shipley.c

I wouldn't recommend Groove or Windows Live, personally.  It's just a preference of mine to use Microsoft products as least often as possible - espcially if they are Microsoft technologies that are exposed to the Internet as a service.  Take a look at Untangle for creating a VPN.  I'd recoommend a VPN so you can set up some file shares and give access to your distributed colleagues.  I wouldn't want to go without some sort of centralized storage.  It can make things messy.

 

If you don't mind, why not use Microsoft products?  They are available at a very good price available here at Tech Soup.... and they actually do work.  Groove is designed to work in exactly this situation... and it does work.  It lets everyone have a copy of the same documents, syncs properly, etc.  Centralized management isn't necessary.... it's already managed by M$ along with your end users.

Because in the security world, and I'm a security nut, Microsoft is 2nd-rate in many areas (not all).  Vulnerabilities in IIS server, Internet Explorer, and more are just some examples.  Many of the security features they promoted in XP were never enabled for a regular user - and it was supposed ot be the most secure Windows OS they'd programmed yet.  Vista is doing better at that, but is expensive to upgrade to.  And I personally don't want my data on Microsoft systems, I want it on my own.  Let's not forget the backdoors they build for the government - exploitations waiting to happen by savvy black hatters.

So just because Groove was designed for this, doesn't mean its the best option if you have a little bit of knowhow.  Its not hard to build a VPN and decide to leave on of the computers you own on 24-7 for access.  And it can cost you $0.

To be fair; by any measure of IT security all consumer-grade operating systems and programs have their share of security issues. Microsoft is certainly not immune to security exploits... neither is Linux, Firefox, or a host of other OSS's and programs... however in the larger sphere of security risk management any potential IT exploit should be manageable... just as these are manageable for all operating systems and programs. e.g. it doesn't matter how secure your operating system is, if you write down your password (or use the name of your dog etc. for a pwd) and someone steals it along with your server! Remember many of the worlds most security-conscious firms and governments use Groove and associated MS software without issue.

Technet has a good article titled [ Onsite Groove Servers vs. Hosted Services ] that includes a decision chart that may help your determinations.

Chris: Thanks for the input.  I certainly don't want to start any sort of M$ bashing thread or anything similar - just looking for input on some stuff as well.  I'm no security expert --- I do servers, AD, Exchange, desktop stuff. 

I have had nothing but positive experiences with Groove.  Several clients of mine use it and definitely love it.  On the other hand, I have almost nothing good to say about ISA server.  So definitely it depends on the experiences, the products, and the situation.

There are definitely costs associated with whatever solution chosen.  An online/hosted system (Groove or otherwise) will have some licensing/ongoing costs.  Something you do yourself will have some hardware costs (no matter what, you'll need some hardware to do this yourself, including your own backup solution).  It really just depends on what you are looking to accomplish and what kind of solution fits most of those goals.