The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) plans to upgrade computer systems to enable staff to access email and other applications remotely.

The trade union – which advises footballers in England and Wales – expects to replace Windows NT4 and Microsoft Exchange 5.5 servers with systems providing greater functionality to staff based in Manchester, London and Birmingham.

By updating IT systems the PFA hopes to introduce remote working applications that staff can access when out of the office. ‘The time is upon us that we need to upgrade systems. One of the ideas we have is to give people mobile email and the latest version of Microsoft Exchange allows that,’ said Jon Kilburn, IT director at the PFA.

The union has also managed to reduce the number of inappropriate web sites that its 80 staff can access, by installing content filtering technology from IT security firm Websense.

‘The main concern we had is the amount of potential time people could spend browsing during their working day, and exposure of employees to inappropriate material, such as pornography,’ said Kilburn.

The PFA has integrated the Websense Enterprise software with its Juniper Networks’ Netscreen firewalls to further improve security.

When staff type in a web site address the request is automatically sent to one of the PFA servers in Manchester to check that it is appropriate.

If the material on the site is deemed unsuitable, the Websense technology will notify the Netscreen firewalls, which will then block access and alert the IT department.

The PFA is also using a Websense application to block music downloads and file sharing sites. Anti-virus software from McAfee is used to detect spyware and other malicious software.

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