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In January of 2004 the scientific world held its breath as the Mars Rover suddenly fell silent. A mission worth hundreds of millions of dollars was at stake. The staff of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California worked around the clock. It was discovered that the robot's computer had become stuck in an endless loop of restarts. The problem was simulated in the laboratory and ultimately the scientists succeeded in changing the start-up sequence of the computer through radio remote control. This made it possible to restart and reprogram the computer.
However, remote control is by no means restricted to interplanetary problems. It also has many advantages in a purely terrestrial environment. Virtually any computer can be serviced through remote control today. Safe, encrypted remote control programmes can mirror the monitor, mouse and keyboard to a remote technician.
Ninety percent or more of all computer problems are software problems. It makes absolutely no difference whether the technician controls the software through a mouse located one metre from the computer or 1000 km. The computer network of BPG is distributed over multiple locations in several countries. The maintenance of the entire network is handled centrally out of Brasov. Whatever small number of hardware related problems may crop up - these can easily be solved with the help of lay personnel at the problem site. Perhaps the local staff has to plug in a cable or a CD - more rarely perform a somewhat more complex task, such as changing out a hard disk. In the unlikely event that a hardware problem is really very complicated, it is usually possible to engage a specialist at the problem location or, alternatively, a lay person can be instructed by telephone or, if the need arises, with the aid of a webcam.
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