 | ||||||
 | ||||||
TESSCOTESSCO's Perfect Storm…Nth Generation Answers a Nightmare Disaster CallAs a $250 million/year wholesale distributor to the wireless industry, TESSCO www.tessco.com was on track to achieve its mission of linking the right product, in the right configuration, at the right time, to the point of use. TESSCO's corporate tagline, "The Vital Link to the Wireless World" ™, had achieved credibility with its audience of hard-to-please customers, the wireless manufacturing industry. Disaster Strikes! But success was threatened one Saturday night in October when disaster struck. An 8-inch public water main burst outside TESSCO's corporate datacenter. A roaring column of water shot horizontally for 30 feet, blasting a hole four feet high and six feet wide in the brick wall. Directly inside were TESSCO's corporate information systems, powered up and processing. The column of water was so strong it slammed four full-height equipment racks loaded with live servers, storage, and networking gear across the datacenter floor and sandwiched them against the far wall like dominos. Since the security doors to the datacenter were well sealed, water flooded the datacenter 10 feet deep before bursting into surrounding offices and the corporate auditorium. Adding insult to the disaster, TESSCO's building was surrounded by a landscaped berm the water blasted through before hitting the building. Bushels of wet soil and plant debris quickly rode the torrent into the previously spotless datacenter. An entire third of the building's ground floor was flooded desk-high with a sticky slurry of mud and soon-to-be rotting organic material. The water roared for nearly three hours until TESSCO could find the right utility employee to locate and close a control valve. By the time the deluge stopped, over a million gallons of water and debris had blasted into TESSCO's headquarters. The datacenter was completely destroyed, including racks containing high performance servers, networking gear and terabytes of precious enterprise data. TESSCO's business was brought to its knees. Nth Generation to the Rescue Before the damage could even be assessed, TESSCO contacted Nth Generation Computing in San Diego. Nth is widely recognized for its expertise and responsiveness. As a Platinum-level HP Enterprise Business Partner, Nth is one of very few in the nation to exceed HP's strict top-tier criteria for experience, technical certifications, and customer satisfaction. Nth responded to the disaster call and immediately mobilized a team of Senior Engineers, Integration Specialists, and Operations Managers. The team configured, assembled, tested and shipped replacement gear to TESSCO within 24 hours from Nth's in-house inventory. The emergency solution included enterprise servers, storage, and communications gear. Simultaneously, Nth Engineers flew across the country and met the gear in Maryland. Nth Generation was onsite and began installing the solution within 48 hours of TESSCO's first call. Under incredible time pressure, Nth helped rebuild TESSCO's corporate datacenter from scratch. The solution consisted of multiple, fully integrated HP AlphaServers running Tru64 UNIX and VMS plus Intel servers running Windows NT and Windows 2000. TESSCO relied on Nth's standing inventory and expertise with enterprise storage to create a 12 TB HP StorageWorks Storage Area Network (SAN) with centralized backup that now outperforms their original environment. When a few of TESSCO's other suppliers failed to deliver during the crisis, Nth stepped into the breach to source their equipment and manage delivery. Customer Education: A Priority Throughout Nth's Engineers worked shoulder-to-shoulder with TESSCO's staff for days, offering priceless on-the-job coaching and training as each hour passed. Nth is widely known for its commitment to customer education and TESSCO's disaster recovery was no exception. Further affirming that expertise, TESSCO recently enrolled several members of its technical staff in Nth University classes for follow-on training. Back in Action Thanks to the responsive and resourceful efforts of Nth Generation Computing, TESSCO was back in business quickly and with greater productivity than ever. Executives at TESSCO learned the hard way the importance of a solid business continuance plan. The company has since engaged Nth Generation to help it plan and develop an out-of-state disaster recovery site, complete with high speed links to Maryland for remote data replication. For more information about business continuance, disaster recovery or any of Nth Generation's other areas of expertise, contact Nth at (858) 451-2383. |
|
|
||||
Subscribe for Nth News & Events
Email this page to a friend
