The phone call came in at 4:36pm. A storm had come through the area, the electricity had gone out, the battery eventually ran down and so too did the INFONETICS server. However, this time, a strange error message appeared on screen as the server was rebooting. That’s when they called.
The error message was something about a “fixed disk” error. Sounds innocent enough, until you realize that the fixed disk is the main component in your server that holds all your valuable data. By 4:50pm, the owner had been located and a plan of action was agreed to. A replacement hard drive would be overnighted to them, fully configured for their needs, and all they would have to do is re-load the previous night’s backup. Further efforts with the now fatally sick hard drive did allow the customer to eventually boot the server all the way up and run a backup. They got lucky as the hard drive errors were localized in an area that didn’t affect any of their data. A good backup of their data (and archives) was performed. And what the heck, why don’t we just send a whole new server as the old Pentium 90mHz guts of the old server (circa ’95) were getting quite out dated compared to today’s modern Pentium-III’s. So we launched into action. First, pull together the additional pieces to throw into the “hot box”, then configure and tune the software to the customers needs, box it up and out the door. By 5:45pm Christina was on the way home (with the new server), and a quick stop at the Fed/Ex depot. Not bad for a day’s work (or an hour’s work at that).
Fast forward to the next morning. Fed/Ex delivers the new server at 12:30pm (and thankfully in one piece, un-damaged). By 1:30pm the customer had the system un-boxed, setup, the tape drive salvaged from the old server and installed. A quick recovery of the data from the afore-mentioned backup tape and away they go! Back on-line by 2:00pm.
While we don’t often toot our own horn, the above scenario is one that we take very seriously, prepare for religiously, and even practice from time to time, and actually happened this past week.
In other news; we’re not sure if it’s the brisket, the chili, the weather, or that fact that he gets to wear his cowboy hat every time he goes, but Account Specialist Jim Conlin is back to his old tricks in Texas. Jim recently made another journey to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to install a system at the newest INFONETICS user, Tex-Air Cryogenics. Tex-Air is located just Northeast of Dallas proper in the suburb of Garland, Texas and is a relatively new company to the industry, as they’ve only been in business for a little over three months. Their customer base is primarily spread throughout four counties over a 50-mile radius in and around the Dallas area. Currently Tex-Air serves as a distributor of gases including liquid oxygen, liquid argon, liquid nitrogen, and helium to the welding supply industry.
Please join with us in welcoming Read Barnhill, Jim Prowell, and Jim Trombley to the INFONETICS’ family of users! We’re glad they decided to start their business out on the right foot with a system from INFONETICS!
–David J Frea