AtMail founder and CEO Ben Duncan's 2009 Land Rover Defender.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — It’s no mystery that artists often seek inspiration by secluding themselves in a remote location. Free from the many distractions that can be found in a studio space, the artist is able to create the best piece of work that they set out to achieve.
But what if the same approach were to be applied to technology development? Would mother nature facilitate the same inspirational environment to create, say, email management appliances and messaging software?
For AtMail (www.atmail.com) founder and CEO Ben Duncan, it apparently does. In 2001, Duncan went on a year-long excursion in the Australian outback, where he first developed the core technology for AtMail’s email management software.
The self-funded company and its portfolio of email messaging solutions have significantly grown to help more than 15 million users and thousands of organizations today.
Now, some eight years later, Duncan has embarked on a similar trek of six months to the Australian coast, outback, brush-country and badlands.
During this time, he hopes to combine adventure with innovation, drawing on nature’s solitude and beauty to develop new technologies for his company.
To help him along the way, he has outfitted a 2009 Land Rover Defender with a solar panel, AtMail webmail server, IP-camera and laptop, which he uses to share details about his excursion through blog posts and photos on the AtMail blog.
Duncan first set out on his journey on January 26, where he departed from AtMail’s headquarters in Brisbane.
From there, he travelled to his first major stop in Sydney, where he met with fellow business leaders in the capital city, making subsequent stops in Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmania, Alice Springs and Perth.
In an email conversation with the WHIR, Duncan discusses the intriguing adventure, what he hopes to achieve from the experience, and the many challenges that stand in his way.
The WHIR: This is rather unorthodox move for a CEO, particularly the CEO of a major IT company. What compelled you to set out on this adventure?
Ben Duncan: I believe working for an IT company, is a perfect opportunity to embrace technology we create and leverage the true nature of the Internet – be connected no matter your location. Breaking down the walls of the traditional job in an office/cubicle brings a smile to my face, and I hope to inspire others to do the same. Part of the trip is to demonstrate using our Atmail messaging platform from remote locations, been connected to clients and my team easily, and using our technology “in the wild”.
Could you describe the first journey you took some 8 years ago and how it helped to inspire the foundation of AtMail?
BD: Back in ’99 I worked for a .com startup company based in Amsterdam; each day after my bike ride home, I saw a Land Rover Defender parked outside my block with advertising for Safari’s. This planted the seed to travel my own country in Australia, taking my work on the road and travel the expanses of Australia. For the first trip eight years ago, Atmail was 10 percent of the size it is now.
We managed to get the show on the road and maintain the business and experience growth, while traveling around Australia for 10 months in a similar Land Rover I have now. During this time technology was much more basic, only 9600 baud GSM modem access was available, and we had to resort staying at Motels occasionally for dial-up access. It was not uncommon to whip out an acoustic coupler in “the middle of nowhere” on a small town street-corner, and hook-up to download the latest emails from clients. During the first trip we kept it mostly under wraps from clients and media, business worked as usual, and we didn’t miss a beat with product development and release cycles.
Can you give me more details as to what you will be doing on a day to day basis over the course of this journey? If you can, try to walk me through a “typical” day.
BD: The past week, driven approx 400km and camped at various reserves and National Parks. The past two nights I have been camping in Springbrook National park, a world-heritage national park in Northern NSW, surrounded by waterfalls, lush wet-tropics jungle and red bellied black-snakes. Internet coverage is provided via my Land Rover with an external 9dBi antenna, which connects to the NextG network. Coverage is brilliant and latency is between 300-400ms which is fine for SSH and even Skype.
The 4×4 provides a fold-out desk in the back-seat, where I can comfortably work and code in the mornings and cooler afternoons, I also have fold out chairs to sit under a tree in the shade, working via wireless to the car – I stay connected via email to my team, and check in via IM regularly to help with our development team and support personal. I aim to work more in the mornings and late afternoons/evenings, and spend the middle of the day offline, bushwalking, yoga and exploring. Been surrounded with nature and a fresh environment is very inspiring, great for coding, helps me get out of the “office block” and there is nothing better then the feeling of been on the road, without the guilt of not working or keeping connected to clients!
What challenges do you expect to face during this trip?
BD: A few things come to mind. The heat in the months to come as we hit the drier states and desert. Been stuck with overcast weather where the solar panel is not charging my battery array and resorting to turning on the car ignition to charge the battery bank. The poorer NextG coverage as we leave the east-cost of Australia where most of the population is, and resorting to Satellite/BGAN Internet connectivity. Another challenge is not wanting to leave a place I may fall in love with, the mobile office needs to travel across the entire Australian coast and into the red-center.
What do you hope to learn from this trip, both personally and professional?
BD: I’d like to learn how to balance work and life better, rather then trying to separate the two, bring them into one by really embracing the work I do, the team we have, and been grateful for the opportunity. Professionally, my development team will be releasing the Atmail version 6.0 during my trip, and I hope to be able to breath some life into the source-code and help polish the product ready for market. We are also releasing some other Atmail product-lines, and aim for my trip to inspire R&D and our competitive edge. Also, I think by leaving the office, gives my team the trust that I believe in them, and helps inspire and let them step up in leaders for their area.
March 4, 2009 — It’s no mystery that artists often seek inspiration by secluding themselves in a remote location. Free from the many distractions that can be found in a studio space, the artist is able to create the best piece of work that they set out to achieve.
