3am Labs feels the love with free remote access tool

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By Ashlee Vance, 2nd September 2004

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

3am Labs has stepped up its attack against Citrix Systems' GoToMyPC remote access software by releasing its own access software for free.

In close to two weeks time, LogMeIn will be offered up at no charge, replacing a previous policy that allowed only a two-week trial. This software - beta site here - lets customers tap into their home or business PCs from afar using either another PC or a mobile device. 3am Labs hopes the free version will drive sales for its higher-end subscription products aimed at both consumers and administrators.

"Free is a pretty compelling price point," said Mike Simon, CEO at 3am Labs, in an interview.

3am Labs is looking to convince users of the free VNC (Virtual Network Computing) software to give LogMeIn a try, saying its product is easier to use and more secure than VNC, which enjoys about 60,000 downloads a month. In addition, 3am Labs wants to give the popular GoToMyPC product a strong challenge.

To go along with the free software, 3am Labs also plans to release a new version of LogMeIn Pro. This software costs $12.95 per month and adds file and folder synchronization and folder sharing.

The company also plans to release a free version of its LogMeIn Scout product, which is aimed at systems administrators. Scout can look over a network to see what types of remote access software products are installed on users' PCs. In addition, it lets administrators set up policies to govern whether users can, for example, upload files and not download files or vice versa. As new users are added to the network, these policies automatically carry over to their machines.

"We believe that we have something that is genuinely useful for anyone that has a computer online," Simon said.

3am Labs plans to add full Mac and Linux support to existing Windows support by the fourth quarter. ®