Develope a remote desktop connection tool

Hi

Does any1 know what is involved in developing a remote desktop type connection tool.
Firstly the language?
Secondly what are the various technologies that will be used?
Thirdly, how long would it take for someone (or a group) to develop one from scratch.

The reason I am asking is because my company has asked me to cost a project like this. For a 3 man IT department of an Insurance company I know this is a huge task but would like for the sake of thoroughness be as acurate as possible in my assesment.

JJ
VB 6/.Net Developer

Moved to General Developer

Given that there are already well tested commercial products like Citrix, VPN, Terminal Services and so forth already available it would be a waste of internal programming resources to try to reinvent this wheel.

If you are running Windows 2000 or greater you can use the Remote Desktop Connection tool that is built in with Windows XP and above and is a download add in for 2000 Pro.

There are so many ways to do this already, it's doubtful a new method would be much better then the rest. I use the same thing my bank does, 128 bit ssl and common sense when it comes to website design.

Most companies could implement a very secure system for less then $2k US including equipment, software, and IT labor. Assuming everything had to be bought at retail.

I would also suggest that most companies already have the equipment laying around and maybe even a spare XP, 2k, or 2003 server licenses somewhere which would further cut costs.

If you want to get really cheap, I can get a P4 HT 3GHz comp with half a gig of ram for $250 US. Pick from a couple dozen Linux programs and distro combos and you are set. BTW my Linux skills are not much past what someone could pick in about a week of dedicated study. I know enough to load a distro and install software and follow directions given to me by Linux veterans.