+1 for tmux. We use it here and it works great for remote pairing. Some of the guys also pimped out their setup with tmuxinator.
https://github.com/aziz/tmuxinator
Thanks for the suggestions. I've been meaning to check out tmux, and just today I tried to install FreeNX to replace VNC. I hope my post at least provides a useful starting place and some creative ideas (e.g. SSH+auto-screen) for someone who is just getting into remote work.
I am a tmux advocate and you can get screen based hot keys if you need but it feels cleaner and it's also under a BSD licence.
tmux is also still being developed, and screen is not. And you dont have to patch to get vertical splits.