SMB Networks / Managing Remote Users /

When the towers fell

By Toni Kistner
Net.Worker, 09/17/01

Of course, instead of bringing you the latest technology and product news from last week's NetWorld + Interop show in Atlanta, I'm reporting a very different story. The attack took place minutes prior to the show's opening. One after another reports penetrated our trade show bubble via cell phones. People kept moving; heading to meetings, workshops and show booths; most seemed to work hard at processing the data, as if they were trying to add up a string of digits in their heads. Colleagues and my family - in Portland, ME, New York City and Charleston - sent me bits of news I read on my Blackberry; for once I longed for a cell phone so I could hear them say they were OK.

At 10 a.m. I arrived for my meeting with the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA). Since the booth was unmanned, as were many, I headed to the booth of ReefEdge nearby, a company that makes utilities to enhance corporate wireless networks.

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I introduced myself to the marketing manager, whose eyes were very wide and bright. She apologized for being distracted - then added almost as an afterthought - "My husband works in the World Trade Center."

"Have you talked to him?" I asked.

"I can't get through," she said.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked.

"What else can I do?" and with that, she gave me a product demo.

At 11 a.m., I met with a WECA representative. There, a well-meaning PR rep offered to let me use his cell phone so I could reserve a rental car. For what? I asked.

"How else are you going to get home?" he countered politely.

The show closed at 2 p.m., and Network World employees - some fifty-odd reporters, sales and marketing folks -learned Network World would shut down its booth and charter a private bus to drive us back to New England. West coast sales reps would hit the road in rental cars.

The 22.5-hour bus ride home kicked off at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Though relatively comfortable (we had movies, snacks and drinks), there was an underlying urgency to the journey. Rest stops were short, and we didn't stop for real food until early evening. Numb and quiet, I spent most of the daylight hours reading newspaper accounts, gazing at the rolling hills of Tennessee and Virginia, and wishing I wasn't so far from my family.

Occasionally, I'd enjoy a cache of e-mail sent to my Blackberry (our rural route was mostly out of signal range). Good news from the ReefEdge exec; her husband had escaped his Tower office, but the couple was unable to return to their nearby home. "It's a trade off I can live with," she wrote.

Since the attack, telework leaders from all over connected, shared sympathy and debated the attack's implications. The earliest reports on Tuesday prompted someone to note that such a disaster calls for renewed efforts at distributing the workforce. But by noon, the enormity of the event had begun sinking in, and others cautioned that this was no time to push a telework agenda that might smack of an 'I told you so' attitude.

On Wednesday, ITAC's Executive Director Chuck Wilsker forwarded a letter sent to his office calling for "a national telework program to reduce our dependence on our airways."

A telework consultant responded, "The problem isn't replacing air travel with telework - the problem is dealing with the concentration of business centers. As long as we keep collecting the majority of our workforces in densely-packed urban centers, we are at risk."

Even so, air travel isn't likely to get back to normal any time soon, and as such, remote communication technologies like tele- and video conferencing are bound to play an increased role.

In fact, a report released by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas two days after the attack ("Workplace Response: America in Crisis") states that "Companies will rush to upgrade to the latest in teleconferencing equipment which will allow them to communicate with partners, suppliers and customers even when air travel is not possible."

The report goes on to say that "telecommuting can ensure seamless customer relationships if each department is evenly split - half working out of company offices, the other half as telecommuters - each with a manager in charge."

Then using chilling language, adds, "Staff forced to vacate a building for any reason will no longer leave customers unserved. The telecommuter 'squad' will take over."