Natural disasters and PositivePRO

Barry Chapman

An off topic post for me, but as a victim of the European airspace shutdown thanks to the Icelandic volcano whose name I cannot even pronounce, we felt that it was imperative that I discuss my experience with our readers.

 

By now, I am sure that you have heard of the volcano that erupted in Iceland. It sent a huge plume of ash and dust into the atmosphere where it happily floated over to Europe where I was attending a wedding with my family. Now, I am not here to give you a science lesson, but long story short - European airspace was closed and I was stranded.

 

Every flight to and from Europe was cancelled, and I had no idea when I would be able to get home, not only to my pets, but also to my job. Lets face it, when you are stranded somewhere, you cannot expect exceptions to be made when your vacation time runs out!

 

I was now faced with a dilemma: How was I going to be able to work? I had not only a limited number of vacation days, but I was faced with a pile of deadlines who were looming in the near future. Working from the hotel was a no go, because they not only had really, REALLY weak WiFi, but it came at the cost of nearly $20 USD a day.

 

Fortunately for me, my newlywed friends now had some vacancy in their house and we were able to move out of our hotel and into their house which had internet access! Having been without internet access at the hotel for 7 days was painful enough, and being able to connect to our companys network using our PositivePRO Managed Remote Access product, I was able to get connected and continue my work as though I were in the office.

 

Now, some companies may ask themselves - 'Why do we need VPN? We are not a large company, and all of our employees are in the office.' This may be a common question, but in real life situations like mine, the unexpected is always to be expected. In the face of real world challenges such as natural disasters, when you are equipped with the right tools, your day to day business can go on unscathed.

 

As of now, I am still stranded in the EU.