In a multi-office or multi-location setup, it's best if all locations and users work on the same data. This way you can make inter-office appointments, have all the data in the same database, access the same information from any location and combine the administrative processes for all your business units.
In a multi-clinic environment the same version of EW4 must be run in all offices installed on the same server.
In order to have the database in one physical location all the users need to connect to the same Ear Works Server (that manages the database).
This can be done over the internet in several ways:
1. Terminal Server
A dedicated machine in one of the offices ("office A") will run as a terminal server, running the Ear Works Clients (or front-ends) for all the users that are not physically located in the office A. The connection to the terminal server will be done over the internet and all the processes will run on the terminal server machine.
The main advantage of this setup is that there will be no actual Ear Works data transferred over the internet, all the communication between the server and the clients will be done within the same LAN so at high speeds.
The only thing transferred over the internet is the screen image and the user events.
You can choose to host the Ear Works Server (the database server) on the same machine as the Terminal Server or on another one within the same LAN, depending on your budget and needs.
2. VPN
Using the VPN technology you can set up a Wide Area Network (WAN) which allows secure data transfer over the internet. The WAN behaves like a LAN but with significantly lower speeds. While the average transfer speed over the LAN is 100 MB/s the average transfer over VPN is at the internet speed which is at least 100 times lower. So although possible and used, we recommend a Terminal Server solution over the VPN solution. The advantage of the VPN setup is that it doesn't require the hardware and software for Terminal Server.
3. Terminal Server within VPN
The most secure option while maintaining the LAN communication speed, this is the recommended option. In this setup you have a dedicated machine running the Terminal Server as in the first option and the connections to this TS machine are done from within a WAN (VPN).
For questions or further information please contact us using the form on the right and checking off "MORE INFO ABOUT MULTI-OFFICE SOLUTIONS NEEDED".
Please note: although we offer assistance, we can't set up your network. The help of a qualified IT specialist or team might be needed to ensure your network is set up properly. You can request IT support through us for a new installation as a brand-new client or an existing client wanting to open a new office. Read more about that here and in the form select the checkbox that says "IT SUPPORT FOR NEW INSTALLATION WANTED".
