Case Study: Gillian O'Brien - Set Designer and Props Stylist

Gillian O'Brien (www.gillianobrien.com)is a self-employed set designer. She decorated the Big Brother House (a famous UK TV show) and styled the backdrops of fashion shoots for Vogue Magazine. Work is conducted at various sites and from her home-based studio. When her desktop computer reached the end of its serviceable life, she called me up for a review of her computing requirements.

I recommended to implement a mobile computing solution, consisting of a laptop and wireless Internet connectivity throughout her house and studio. This way she would be able to work from any location within her home office with ease. Needless to say, she could then also take her laptop away with her to the production sites of her work. To safeguard against loss of data - a laptop is only too easily dropped or even stolen - I strongly advised her to implement a simple data back-up facility.

Gillian bought the laptop and an external USB hard-drive herself to minimum specifications we had discussed. I bought the correct WLAN-router to fit with her cable connection. I chose a Belkin ADSL WLAN router as they are renouned for excellent free technical support. Within a matter of hours I installed all equipment and configured the WLAN connection with a WAP key, guaranteeing the highest possible form of wireless security. To back up her data onto the external hard-drive, I showed her how to use a small utility that is easy to operate.

Gillian can now work from literally anywhere with the peace of mind that her data is secure. Moreover, there is no necessity for ongoing technical maintenance or service contracts. "I am really pleased with the work Patrick did for me. He brought my computing up-to-date, and I know that should anything go wrong, I will still be able to help myself."