If you are one of those people who can be found working at the office, at home or somewhere on the road with roughly equal probability, it is likely that you have discovered one of the big drawbacks of being mobile - keeping all the machines you use synchronized.

And even if you only use a laptop you'll want to back up your work so that it can be retrieved easily. And this could be crucial - just imagine you're in Chicago, far from home, it's 10 p.m. and your laptop dies. Ugh.

Getting access to your files - the presentation, the spreadsheets, etc. - could well be crucial unless you don't mind the trip being a complete waste of time and money.

A Web application-based solution to this predicament is Punch WebDrive Sync Engine from Punch Networks (see links below).

Punch WebDrive Sync Engine can synchronize your PC's contents with Punch Network's back-end services either automatically on a schedule you define such as when files change or on-demand. If you need to retrieve files you can logon to the Punch server and through the Web interface find the files you need and even identify previous versions and then download the files you need. That should save your trip.

Installation is claimed to require no more than four mouse clicks and not require a reboot (if only more software was like that). To keep several machines in you must install Punch WebDrive Sync Engine on each of them and logon to the Punch server from all machines using the same logon name and password.

Punch WebDrive Sync Engine also integrates with the company's Punch WebGroups service, which offers document management including version tracking, four levels of user authorities, member activity audit trails, check-in/out, change notification, and automated updating of user files on their hard drives with only new or updated files.

WebDrive Sync Engine cost $99 per annum for 100M bytes of data backup.

Mark Gibbs is a consultant, author, journalist, columnist and blogger.