Masters of the virtual world

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Nearly one-fifth of the employed adult U.S. workforce, or 24.1 million people, worked from home at least one day a month in 2004, according to a recent survey by business researcher The Dieringer Research Group. That's an increase of 2.6% over 2003.

Clearly, teleworking isn't just for loners in fuzzy slippers anymore. As enabling technologies such as the Internet, wireless, VoIP and broadband to the home proliferate, so does the number of employees who choose to work virtually. In fact, prominent top executives at Network World 200 companies say they rarely spend much time in a corporate facility. Instead, they work from wherever they are - whether at home, the airport, a customer site or an overseas field office.

Work is what you do, not where you are, they say. Virtual work programs cut costs (especially in office real estate), improve the bottom line, help attract and retain topflight staff, enhance productivity and improve overall competitiveness, they add.

AT&T (No. 10), Sun (No. 20) and Nortel (absent from this year's list because of delayed financial reporting) are virtual-work pioneers. Practicing what they preach, they use such deployments to cut costs in the face of tough financial times. Their virtual work programs range from the sci-fi to the traditional.

Sun: Working anytime, anywhere - on anything

When Sun CIO Bill Vass sets out from the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., to visit other Sun sites across the country, he packs his entire desktop into his wallet.

This is because he uses an ultra-thin client computer, called a Sun Ray , that runs off of his corporate badge, which is about the size and shape of a credit card.

Sun Rays are diskless, operating-system-less laptop-like devices that can be used with any type of monitor, keyboard or mouse. When a user inserts his corporate ID badge into the Sun Ray, the device communicates to Sun Ray servers at headquarters. Those servers manage all the data and applications, including VoIP soft phones, and simply deliver the GUI to the remote user. The badge contains a small Java chip that handles authentication and encryption.

"At work, I insert my badge into any Sun Ray around, and within 3 seconds, my desktop pops up," Vass says. "When I'm finished at work, I can remove my badge, go home and insert it in my home Sun Ray. Within 3 seconds, my desktop, which is encrypted with the certificate on my badge, pops up exactly as I left it at work, even with my cursor still blinking on the presentation or the e-mail I was working on."

The result is a mobile workforce that is far more secure, and easier to support and administer than traditional laptop-wielders. The Sun Rays cost just $200 apiece and require the same amount of technical support as a typical TV, meaning zero, Vass says.

"We save $15 million a year in administrative costs alone," Vass says, adding that the Sun Rays, which use only 11 watts of power, also save the company $2.8 million in power costs. The company garners another $6.5 million a year by not having to refresh its desktops. "Plus, it's a tremendous leap in security," he says. Remote workers can't become infected with worms or viruses and pass them onto the corporate network, because the Sun Rays have no operating system to infiltrate, he says.