Pass The Remote

After a load of research, review, consideration and deliberation, we finally went ahead with a project we've been looking to move on for quite some time: getting our office server behind a bona-fide wireless firewall and simultaneously making all our data accessible outside the four walls of our office.

I can hear the collective yawn from deep within cyberspace.

It's not too big a deal, and I'm sure within a week or ten days I'll be yawning alongside each reader that mistakenly finds his or her way through these parts. But for right now, it's pretty fargin' sweet seeing the data come alive as if I were sitting in front of my office PC. Moreover, it's nice to know I'll be able to access client data from there whilst here.

I think what gets me off about this capability is not simply the notion that I'll be able to get more done more efficiently; it's also the aspect of technology working with us rather than against us that does the trick. With one or two small software loads, I can be in two or more places at once, and methinks that's pretty awesome.

Granted, remote PC access isn't quite a new technology. It's been around, for better or worse, for twenty or so years. PC Anywhere has been selling its wares to the masses for as long as I can remember -- so long, in fact, that they were originally handcuffed by the lack of speed inherent in dial-up modems. Feh.

So now, with the myriad options available to us, together with the monster security we implemented, I can not only sleep at night knowing my data's secure, I can actually get out of bed and go check on it with a matter of steps rather than having to traverse the City to hit the office.

This, of course, doesn't mean I'll be spending my days confined to the Casa de Boogie. What it does mean, however, is that nights and weekends won't be rife with me doing work and leaving some left for the next morning/Monday. That may not excite many people about their jobs, but knowing I'll be able to get done what I need to without walls being in my way is a nice little perk.

The fact that Kaia's been doing this for the past four years with her work doesn't get lost on me, but now I sorta-kinda understand how she can do her work from anywhere in the world and not need to be confined to a desk lit by flourescent lights.

Next on the agenda: T1.

I won't hold my breath. But then again, I doubted we'd ever be able to get remote access to be a serviceable, cost-effective reality.

So I'll wait to exhale for just a bit ;-)