iPad Questions

Poweruser

Hi
I am working as Administrator for a company. and we are thinking of buying 10 Ipads for the sales reps on the road.. I'm new to ipads so have lots of questions., They look great for giving demos and presentations.

(1) But can I connect an IPad to wireless network, and map a network drive. For example We have a large amount of pdfs on a shared folder on a network drive, too many to email. so can I map to this drive and transfer them across , if so how..

(2) Also can I print to network printers from the Ipad.

(3) Is it possible to use MS Office , word Excel..

(4) Also The VPN feature in Settings, if I connect to my network remotely through VPN, how can i use this VPN feature .. For example can I see my shared drives, RDP etc

(5) And finally do I need virsus software on a Ipad...

any help would be much appreciated...

culabula

Poweruser wrote: »

Hi
I am working as Administrator for a company. and we are thinking of buying 10 Ipads for the sales reps on the road.. I'm new to ipads so have lots of questions., They look great for giving demos and presentations.

(1) But can I connect an IPad to wireless network, and map a network drive. For example We have a large amount of pdfs on a shared folder on a network drive, too many to email. so can I map to this drive and transfer them across , if so how..

(2) Also can I print to network printers from the Ipad.

(3) Is it possible to use MS Office , word Excel..

(4) Also The VPN feature in Settings, if I connect to my network remotely through VPN, how can i use this VPN feature .. For example can I see my shared drives, RDP etc

(5) And finally do I need virsus software on a Ipad...

any help would be much appreciated...

1) Yes, iPad will connect to wifi as any wifi-enabled device. There are many apps which allow you to see either your drives or to transfer data/docs. For example, Goodreader, USB Drive, Dropbox. Zumocast allows you not only to see your files and read them but also to download them locally if necessary.

2) Not yet, but yes in November.

3) Not directly: you purchase Apple Pages which will read any MS Doc and which will export to .doc. Likewise, Apple Numbers and Excel.

4) VPN mainly used for accessing media from foreign countries but others more knowledgeable in this sphere will jump in here.

5) No.

phill106

culabula wrote: »

4) VPN mainly used for accessing media from foreign countries but others more knowledgeable in this sphere will jump in here.

Well on desktop computers/ laptops you can certainly access network shares from the network you connect to via vpn. Couple this with FileBrowser for the iPad which works like Mac Finder or Windows Explorer,should allow you to browse all your network shares directly from your iPad

culabula

phill106 wrote: »

Well on desktop computers/ laptops you can certainly access network shares from the network you connect to via vpn. Couple this with FileBrowser for the iPad which works like Mac Finder or Windows Explorer,should allow you to browse all your network shares directly from your iPad

Goodreader and Zumocast too.

3rdDegree

Poweruser wrote: »

Hi

(2) Also can I print to network printers from the Ipad.

(3) Is it possible to use MS Office , word Excel..

(2) As "culabula" said, this will be available with IOS Upgrade available in November. At the moment however, the can be done by using a paid App.

(3) In addition to "culabula" advise, you can use Documents To Go application. Apparently, this renders MS documents more accurately when they are taken from PC to iPad. Also features access to "Cloud" sharing such as Dropbox. Also much cheaper than the three apps mentioned above.

Poweruser

Thanks Guys for the Answers .. Help much Appreciated