Story · Engineering · Flood
Ten inches of rain in three hours. Nothing went down. Ever.
The area took around ten and a half inches of rain in three hours. The firm sits on top of a hill and was still the lowest building in its business park, which is the kind of detail nobody knows until the water arrives.
The situation
They called the next day with a reasonable question: should we move our servers to your hosting? It is the question everybody asks after a flood, and the honest answer is usually not the one that sells the most.
We assessed it properly instead of answering immediately. The rack was tall enough that the batteries were well clear of the water line. The core infrastructure was untouched. What they had actually lost was a lot of workstations, docking stations and power supplies, and one access point that had been mounted low.
The downstairs had to be gutted. Renovation was going to run for months.
What we did
The account manager did what he calls activating the brain trust: pulled in the engineers, put the question in front of people who would disagree with him, and worked it through rather than deciding alone.
The conclusion was that the client's equipment should stay exactly where it was. We certified it safe to use and kept it in production through nine months of renovation happening around it.
Staff worked remotely with no changes to the systems they already had, because the systems never went down. That is the whole outcome.
Then we installed water sensors that text a list of people whatever the time or date, because the second flood is the one you have no excuse for.
"No two of these are ever the same. Disaster recovery is not a step one, two, three, four process, which is exactly why it needs people who have seen a few."
How the engineering team puts itWhat changed
ResolvedNothing went down. Not during the flood, not during nine months of renovation, not during the move back in. The site is the keystone of a network with offices in two other states and all of them kept working.
They also got the answer that did not involve buying anything from us, which is the answer we want to be able to give when it is the right one.
Order the internet circuit the week the lease is signed. Carriers take six to twelve weeks. Nothing else on a move fails as often.
The relocation checklist Did you knowA backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan. Ask for the date of the last tested restore.
What to actually testQuestions people ask about this
Should we move to hosted servers after a flood?
Sometimes. Often not. The right answer depends on what actually got wet, how your rack is built and what your recovery time needs to be. Anyone who answers before assessing is selling.
What is a water sensor worth?
Very little, until the night it texts five people at two in the morning. It is one of the cheapest pieces of protection available.
Can you keep us running through a renovation?
Usually yes, and it is mostly a planning problem rather than a technical one. Somebody has to own the sequence and talk to the builders.
"Mike C. was spot on. Needed assistance setting up a software license with a third-party vendor. Mike was on time for the pre-arranged meeting and completed the install with no issues. After the install the vendor commented on how easy it went. Mike knew where everything needed to go and facilitated his end without flaw."
Jarad, HVAC contractorMeet Mike- A technician who knows your setup takes every request. Not a dispatcher, not a queue.
- Every closed ticket is surveyed and a partner reads every response.
- 99.5% of surveys come back positive.
- Family-owned since 2005. 21 years in the same corner of Wisconsin, not going anywhere.
"Thanks for the hard work. I was kept informed with regular updates until the concern was resolved."
Jeff, insurance brokerageIs your equipment above the water line?
We will look at the room, not just the rack, and tell you what we would change.
Talk to a partnerTalk to a partner, not a sales script.
Tell us what is going on. A partner will call you back the same business day, look at what you have, and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. No pricing pressure, no pitch deck.