Steve-

I think that more and more the lines between personal life and work for workers in IT are getting blurred as technology advances. And I also think that it can be a positive thing. I agree that no one likes to get the call about a system being down in the middle of the night or taking calls on a vacation. But what I am talking about is the day to day blurring that allows both empoyee and employer advantages that they wouldn't have otherwise. Sure I had to do a system upgrade on a Sunday morning early. But I could do it from home in my pajamas. I also will be able to leave the office today to watch my daughter's basketball game at 3:00, I will have my phone forwarded and the laptop in the car if the need arises. These tradeoffs have clear advantages for the employer (knowing that the employee is always 'on the job') and the employee (the ability to take guilt free time during the traditional work day for personal appointments, family events, etc). Advancing technology will keep allowing for that give and take between employer and employee.

That's where devices like an ipad come in. Remote monitoring with the abilityto perform certain necessary funtions without the overhead of a full laptop is ideal. I love my Droidx, but isn't the best management tool for my systems. Screen real estate is a big factor there. Portability also comes into play as well in certain situations. No one wants to be the guy lugging in and setting up a laptop at their kid's baskteball game.

That's an important synergy that devices like and ipad and software such as Red Gate's create- the ability for me to do my job away from the offices just as well as I can do it in the office gives me the flexibility to live my life and the gives my employer confidence that the SQL servers that drive our business are always being looked after.