2.

1 Technologies and techniques currently being used for

Remote Access and assistance
Assessment of the technologies used for Remote Access will help establish a
baseline for current methods used by various individuals in the company.
Determine what methods/tools are being utilized.
Discuss ease of use of the tools.
Evaluate the security of the current methods.

Find out who determines if access is granted.

Workgroup Assessment
The graph below demonstrates that most respondents use VPN along
with other methods. While members of the workgroup agreed that these
percentages would shift based on the evolution of technology and security
advancements, it is useful to still capture a current state. Later in this
document, we will highlight why these changes will occur based on improved
capabilities.

The following is a brief identification of the various methods for Remote

Access taken from the “Remote Equipment Access Options Analysis”
report provided by the OpX Leadership Network.

Direct VPN: The customer’s firewall requires the customer’s permission

to the OEM for access to the network used by production operations’
controllers.

Converged Network: The customer’s firewall plus a second secure

switch require permission granted by the customer to the OEM for
access to a segmented section of the network used by production
operations’ controllers.

2021 I Practical Guide for Remote Access to Plant Equipment 9