Once upon a time, notebook computers were a specialist's tool, restricted to an exclusive group of heavily traveled workers for whom the deployment of expensive and fragile equipment was cost-effective. No more. With plentiful broadband and continuing improvements in remote access and communications technologies, almost anyone can be a mobile worker.

A recent study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that 68 percent of corporate executives surveyed considered more than 10 percent of their employees to be "mobile workers," and 28 percent considered more than one-third of their workforce mobile. The same study found that one-third of executives believed that only specialized workers need to be mobile. As the price, performance and durability of various notebooks begin to approach those of desktops, it's beginning to make less business sense to keep people tethered to an office.

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