TN IT139 Overview of InTouch Access Anywhere

Description

InTouch Access Anywhere provides end-users with remote access to Wonderware InTouch applications from any HTML5 compatible web browser, leveraging Remote Desktop technology2. Any browser that supports HTML5 canvas can be used as the client. HTML5 WebSockets is typically required for InTouch Access Anywhere.

• Author: Peter Farrell
• Published: 06/30/2015
• Applies to: 11.1

Details

InTouch Access Anywhere provides the following benefits:

• You can access and interact with Wonderware InTouch applications from any device that has an HTML5 compatible web browser
• No need to install or configure any software on the end-point device
• No need to perform software updates or patches on end-point devices
• Works on platforms that only support web applications, and do not allow application installation, such as Google Chrome OS
• Consistent look-and-feel on any platform that has a HTML5 compatible browser
• It can be seamlessly integrated with other web-based applications and portals

Architecture

InTouch Access Anywhere is comprised of three installable components:

1. InTouch Access Anywhere Server (WebSocket server) that is installed on the RDP host where Wonderware InTouch resides. This includes a collection of web resources (HTML files, CSS, JavaScript, images, etc.).
2. InTouch Access Anywhere Secure Gateway3 – This is an optional component installed separately on a machine in a DMZ to enable access beyond a firewall. This is the recommended architecture when you want users on the business side of your operation to be able to access InTouch applications running on the HMI SCADA network.
   
   This diagram illustrates how the components of InTouch Access Anywhere work together:

The user initiates the process by directing the browser to the start page hosted on the web server (http://<machinename>:8080/). The Start.html page is displayed in the web browser using HTTP/HTTPS.

For more information on the InTouch Access Anywhere Secure Gateway, prefer to the InTouch Access Anywhere Secure Gateway Administrator’s Manual

1. The browser opens a WebSocket connection to the InTouch Access Anywhere Server, which is running on the RDP host itself.
   1. If the optional InTouch Access Anywhere Secure Gateway is used, the InTouch Access Anywhere Server browser session will connect through it.
2. The InTouch Access Anywhere Server translates the WebSocket communication to and from RDP, thus establishing a connection from the browser to the RDP host itself.
3. The browser then displays the content of the remote application.

RDP Compression and Acceleration

InTouch Access Anywhere contains technology for RDP compression and acceleration. This enhances remote desktop performance over the Network, including the Internet. There are three main features in this technology:

• Image compression
• Packet shaping
• Whole frame rendering

Image compression compresses images before transmitting them to the browser for rendering. The level of compression is dependent on the acceleration/quality level selected by the user (a default value can be configured by the administrator).
Packet shaping optimizes the network messages to improve network utilization and performance.

Whole frame rendering means that the display is updated as a whole rather than in blocks, as performed by standard RDP. This is especially noticeable when watching video or over slow network connections. Coupled with the other optimization features, it results in a smoother display that more closely resembles the functionality on local desktops.