The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/4983
www.iltanet.org 36 Peer to Peer in its full form is invaluable. Without this feature, I can't respond to a client until I can get to a networked computer. With this feature, I can look at a webpage and respond instantly. There's nothing like having Wikipedia, CNN, etc. at your fingertips when you're at a disadvantage in a conversation." Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is our one-stop- shop portal solution for content and collaboration. The search index within the portal includes over six million documents contained within our document management system. With Safari on the iPhone and our virtual private network (VPN) connection, attorneys can access and search our intellectual capital from anywhere in the world. They can even open, read and edit a document from the iPhone, something we've never been able to do on any other wireless device without major programming development. We had a recent success story of an attorney being onsite with a client, where he discovered he did not have the document and marketing materials he needed. With his iPhone, he pulled up the content from our portal and forwarded it to the client to review together. Applications Many vendors we currently do business with are extending their solutions to iPhone applications (e.g., DocsToGo). There is a surplus of both business applications and personal applications available for a user to download to the device. We have not released any applications that we directly support on the device (yet), but our iPhone adopters have been self-sufficient, and we have not encountered a situation of a user expecting IS support for an application they downloaded from the app store. There is something to be said for an attorney having one device for both business and entertainment, especially on extended travel assignments. We have an investment in Citrix infrastructure both for remote access and regular daily business computing (seven thin client offices use Citrix as their platform for application access). The Citrix Receiver for iPhone is a free iPhone application that can be used to access any applications published to a user from our Citrix infrastructure. This can be especially useful for access to "noncore" applications, such as when a user is without a laptop and needs to get to information quickly. Examples of noncore applications include Concordance and CPI. If a user has that application published to them in Citrix, and has the receiver app on their iPhone, then he or she can get to that information over any connection — 3G on the road or WiFi in a hotspot. Something interesting we are doing in this area relates to system administration. Our ultimate goal is to be able to administer the systems from Oak Street Beach over on Lake Michigan. All kidding aside, these tools have come in handy during nonbusiness hours when level three support is not close to a computer. One tool for specifically administering a Citrix infrastructure is called Extentrix, which allows us to monitor all users, sessions, servers and applications running on our Citrix XenApp server farm. All operations can be done with one click on any of the toolbar's buttons, including refresh, logoff or reset, which includes the ability to send a message to a specific session. There are virtual network computing (VNC) and remote desktop protocol (RDP) iPhone apps that will allow you to connect to a computer while you are away. We are starting to dig more into the area of custom scripts and applications published through Citrix for our IS administrators to use while away from a computer. Procurement The firm already standardized on AT&T as a single wireless carrier, therefore adding the device as an option was straightforward from a wireless service standpoint. That's not to say we didn't have any issues or confusion working with AT&T and Apple at the beginning, but because we wanted to make the iPhone available to our attorneys on the first day of the release, those were largely early adopter issues. Currently, we support two options to purchase the iPhone and have it connected to Sonnenschein systems. The first option is to obtain the phone and service via the firm. With this approach, the firm coordinates all services. This option is referred to as a corporate responsible account (CRU). The second option is to obtain the phone and service through a personal AT&T Wireless account, known as an individual responsible account (IRU). With this approach, all services are coordinated between the individual, AT&T and Apple (though IRU users were able to get the firm discount on phones). We opened up the IRU option to reduce the risk to the firm of the two-year AT&T service contract on the iPhone. In addition, we already had a mobility provisioning portal site, so simply adding the iPhone as a device selection for CRU users and integrating into our existing procurement process was easy. devices and Policies The iPhone's inherent coolness means there is the potential for an IS administrator or attorney to reach a higher level of social status with the device in their hands. However, despite this, you should still plan for a percentage of users to switch back to their old BlackBerry devices after a couple of weeks with an iPhone. Typically, this is due to the learning curve associated with the iPhone keyboard. Our response was simply "give it time." Typing does get better and faster as you get used to the new keyboard and as the iPhone learns the words you use most often. However, due to the service restrictions, you should plan on either having a couple of training devices (with service plans attached to them) or have an IS person in each office switch to the iPhone and provide demonstrations and training sessions. The goal is to communicate to users that there is no switching back due to the service plan restrictions and that they should meet with an IS person who will demonstrate the device before making a commitment. Have your policies in place and posted before you go live. This is important due to the iPhone's two-year contract