No it's not new, it's just not worth it. Especially when the remote teams have no system admin or security skills. Better to just give them a preconfigured box with all the necessary software and policies. A buddy used to work at Booz Allen Hamilton and they gave him a company laptop with very limited permissions.
That is one approach. Give them a locked down, with no root access, Windows or Linux box and a company Blackberry. It's not unreasonable for scenarios where the highest security is needed.
That said, my experience is that most technical people really dislike that sort of thing. Of course, it's your choice if that's your priority.
