How an EVDO and a VPN Saved My Life

So, as you know, I travel all over the country giving presentations to accounting and finance professionals.  Last week, I had to do a presentation to about 75 CPAs.  I showed up to the meeting room that morning with plenty of time.  I set up my laptop.  I set up the LCD projector.  I chatted with the hotel’s audio-video guy.  I had a cup of coffee.  Not a worry in the world.  No stress.  Then, I went to open my 309 page Powerpoint presentation, and …. it was NOT on my laptop!  Panic.  Stress.  Elevated blood pressure.  I had about 30 minutes before the course was going to start.  Attendees were starting to come in.

I took several deep breaths and focused.  I activated my EVDO internet connection.  (EVDO is the broadband internet connection provided through cell towers).  Bam, I was connected to the internet.  Then, I activated my VPN connection back to my corporate network.  (VPN is Virtual Private Networking, and represents a secure connection to networks through the internet).  Bam, I was connected to my corporate server.  I browsed our shared network drive, located the Powerpoint file, and copied it to my laptop.  The 8MB file downloaded within minutes, and bam… problem solved.  You’ll be happy to know that at this point, I had 25 minutes before the course was going to start, and life was good again.  The presentation was a great success.

If you find yourself working out of the office from time to time, and need to access the documents on your corporate server, an EVDO/VPN combination is great.  If you need help getting it set up, our techs are always here.