Channel Five staff get remote control

VPN lets TV channel avoid downtime from a distance

Channel Five has installed remote working technology to deal with last-minute programming changes to help cope with potential disasters.

Senior executives, scheduling directors and sales staff are now using a Cisco virtual private network (VPN) to remotely access advertising booking and TV scheduling applications.

The system, installed by managed security services specialist Boxing Orange, will also allow employees to access the corporate network from their laptops, PDAs or hotel PCs, while travelling to European offices, owned by parent company RTL.

‘Over a holiday period or weekend we might need to make last-minute changes to our schedules,’ said Ken Davis, Five’s IT director.

‘If there’s an accident or major world event we might have to change a programme as it could have content deemed inappropriate after the event. Remote working lets people do this without having to come into the office.’

The system also improves communication with Five’s news partner Sky TV, and allows sales teams to access airtime sales systems on the move, so that last-minute commercial bookings can be added.

More than 70 executives are already using the system, which is protected by two-factor authentication tokens from Boxing Orange and RSA Security.

‘There are various layers of security and access rights, including those controlled by Windows systems and firewalls,’ said Davis.

Five is now planning to extend its use of remote working technology with a secure sockets layer (SSL) VPN, so that employees can access business applications over the internet if there is a disaster, such as a power cut, fire or flood.

‘We are reviewing the ability of our staff to work from home in a disaster situation,’ Davis said.

The TV channel also has a partnership with IT supplier HP, which will provide support if there are business continuity issues.

Channel Five last year signed a five-year deal with BBC Broadcast to provide disaster recovery support for transmissions (Computing, 25 November 2004).