Case Study: New Mexico's Taxation & Revenue Department enabled 700+ remote desktops in under a week with Keeper Connection Manager
Key results
The challenge
In early 2020, the IT group at the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department needed to extend its existing Apache Guacamole remote desktop environment to the entire agency to maintain business continuity through the COVID-19 pandemic. Many employees used desktops rather than laptops, so deploying VPN client software on personal computers was not an option. The team wanted a commercial product with professional support that could also enforce two-factor authentication to meet PCI requirements.
The solution
The department deployed three load-balanced instances of Keeper Connection Manager, Keeper Security's commercial build of the open-source Apache Guacamole remote desktop platform. The agentless approach let end users reach their desktops from any device using only a standard browser and login credentials, with two-factor authentication via Google Authenticator and out-of-the-box LDAP integration.
“This avenue provided an optimal route to effectively extend a user's desktop to a remote location, gracefully, securely, and economically.”
MBMike BacaCIO, New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department
The results, in context
Within one week, all 700 employees were securely accessing their desktops from home, and the agency continued operations at near-normal capacity. The department ran three instances of Keeper Connection Manager with load balancing for performance and expected to keep using the tool for remote and after-hours access beyond the pandemic.