www.cohesive.com www.playground.sun.com Sun's machine for experimentation on the Internet

By Tom Duffy
Network World, 3/16/98

Nathan Mehl doesn't have a lot of free time at work. In addition to being the network security manager at Cohesive Network Systems, Inc.'s (CNS) New England division, in Cambridge, Mass., he's also a consultant for the systems integrator.

But when he does get a spare minute, it's a good bet that he can be found playing around in the company "sandbox,'' a subnetwork set aside for employees to let off some steam by experimenting with technologies they typically don't get to work with on the job.

Lately Mehl has been learning the finer points of Berkeley Internet Name Daemon, an application that translates domain names into IP addresses. Mehl downloaded the program from the Internet and has been practicing using it on the sandbox network, which is segregated from the company's LAN so employee experiments don't impede more important work.

"It's definitely one of the best perks we get,'' Mehl says. "It's a good incentive to go out and play with more things that will eventually benefit me and the company.''

Corporate romper rooms

Because network professionals and other technical employees are in high demand, more and more companies are creating similar technology playgrounds to help retain qualified employees. The playgrounds also appear to be popular in nontechnical companies that sometimes have trouble holding on to employees who don't always get a chance to work with cutting-edge technologies, says Tim Walsh, a vice president at Blessing/White, Inc., a human resources consultancy in Princeton, N.J.

"Companies in the service sector, such as banks, find they are competing heavily with the consulting firms for IT people,'' Walsh says. "You've got turnover rates of 20% to 30%, so these people are willing to try almost anything.''

Although retention may be more of a problem in certain industries, all types of companies can benefit by adding an opportunity for fun to the workday.

Take CNS, formerly known as LeftBank. Turnover isn't a problem there because company founder Bob Antia set out to create an attractive working environment.

"I think people just want to be appreciated, have fun and do things that interest them,'' says Antia, now a managing partner for CNS' New England division. "It's just one part of an overall employee retention strategy.''

Before starting LeftBank four years ago, Antia worked in the theater industry creating special effects for such Broadway productions as "Les Miserables." Although there weren't any technology playgrounds there, he learned a few universal truths about how to treat employees.

"The only real assets are your people, and you really have to treat them like assets,'' he says. "They're not numbers on a spreadsheet.''

Outfitting the playground

The CNS sandbox began with a few servers. It has since grown to include a half dozen Sun Microsystems, Inc. servers, a couple of routers and a host of applications and technologies. The cost has been limited because most of the equipment has come in the form of hand-me-downs from customers who were upgrading.

For example, a customer recently donated some Fibre Channel and ATM cards. Because CNS' staff doesn't use either high-speed technology very often on the job, Antia says it makes sense to add the adapters to the sandbox network.

This hints at two other corporate benefits of the playground: It lets employees experiment with technologies they might be able to apply on the job. And by setting aside an area of the network where workers can hook up their own devices and experiment with new applications, Antia figures employees are less likely to accidentally cause problems on the corporate LAN.

For his part, Mehl takes full advantage of the perk. A while back, he tested a one-time usage password system that he later incorporated into the company's IP network. Lately he's been playing around with several new encryption and authentication tools. Eventually, he hopes to propose moving the tools over to the company network to improve security.

But the sandbox also provides some amusement. Mehl has a private domain that resides on one of the servers. Meanwhile, one server runs a mailing list for aficionados of Stellar Crisis, a Web-based game, and another hosts the Web site for Radio Free Allston, a Boston group that promotes nonregulated radio broadcasts.

"It helps keep the job fun,'' Mehl says. "And rather than just building things for clients, it lets me feel like computing is still something I'm committed to and experimenting with.''

Duffy is a freelance writer in Somerville, Mass. He can be reached at tduffy62@compuserve.com.