NetSupport Gives IT and MSPs New Mac Support Tool

Netsupport Inc. should be well known to IT pros. After all, it has sold over 12 million copies of its flagship remote support tool, NetSupport Manager.

For most of its history, the company sold tools that supported and ran from standard Windows PCs. As the IT world changed, so did NetSupport, branching out into caring for mobile devices and Apple Macs. These tools can be used by internal IT or managed service providers to troubleshoot customer system or to offer remote control as a service in and of itself.

Much of this is driven by the Bring Your Own Device movement. These devices are rarely PCs, but more often smartphones and tablets.

Today besides the Mac, NetSupport can address Android, iOS, and the now mobile Windows 8, which drives tablets such a Microsoft Surface.

NetSupport has long supported remote control of Macs. What’s new is the software can now run on a Mac with the direct assistance of NetSupport Control for Mac. This software follows client versions that let IT control remote machines from mobile devices, including Android and iOS. Mac Control, as it’s called, doesn’t just offer remote control, but adds messaging and chat so IT can correspond with the end user without being tied up with a phone call.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our customers this latest addition to the range of platforms supported by NetSupport Manager. The product has always offered great flexibility in terms of the systems you can connect to from a Windows desktop, but with the Mobile version and now the Mac Control, we are providing the modern service desk and IT teams with even greater remote support possibilities,” said NetSupport Managing Director Al Kingsley.

Changing the Remote

The whole world of remote control software has changed in recent years. In the early days a few packages ruled. Laplink has Laplink Everywhere and Symantec had (and still has) PCAnywhere. These were some of the dominant packages.

But the cloud has changed everything. Now we have LogMeIn, Teamview, GoToMeeting and myriad other Web-only solutions.