Rick Wilkowski is a Network Systems Engineer with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. As more and more employees are forced to work remotely or from home, MFPE members like Wilkowski are stepping up to the plate. “We have switched from a face to face support to more of a remote control support over the years,” says Wilkoski. “Now with the current pandemic, this practice is being put to the test. Communicating with equipment not directly connected to the State network has it’s challenges.”

Despite the challenges, Wilkowski is finding a way for staff to continue their work on behalf of the people of Montana. Because of Network Systems Engineers, many state employees are able to continue to keep working using state supplied laptops to connect to their work via VPN (Virtual Private Network), VDI (Virtual Desktop Interface), or CITRIX.

“When the boss called for all hands on deck, we all helped where we could,” says Wilkowski. “In the last week the entire staff has been prepping laptops for distribution that we started handing out on March 23rd. We have several hundred refurbished laptops that have been set up for use in a work from home environment.”