NOLA

Finding Safe Server Harbor After Hurricane Katrina

New Orleans-based NOLA Computer Services, founded in 1985, is one of the largest and most respected information technology services companies in the South. It serves a diverse, national clientele of Fortune 500 corporations and public-sector organizations, such as the City of New Orleans, Shell Offshore, Entergy Corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce, among others.

NOLA hosts many of its clients' websites on its servers, including high-profile government and corporate sites where 24/7 availability is imperative. So it colocated its client servers with a national telecommunications provider on the 27th floor of an office building next to the Superdome. All was well for several years.

As Hurricane Katrina approached in late August 2005, NOLA was assured by its provider that its servers would stay up and running if any hurricane caused an area power outage. The company promised to fly in diesel to keep its generators going. On the Monday that Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, NOLA's servers were still humming along, largely as normal. By Wednesday, however, it was a different story.

"Two days after the hurricane hit, the sites went down," said Syed Baber, NOLA's customer support/infrastructure manager. Clearly, the flooding in New Orleans from the multiple levee breaks was unprecedented. Baber, who was based in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, was scrambling to help clients and update them on the situation. With news reports showing the chaos unfolding in New Orleans, they understood what was happening. Not being able to get into New Orleans, they were all helpless.

With no power being distributed through the city and the generators that ran NOLA's servers out of diesel, the very situation that NOLA had guarded against was now a harsh reality. Ultimately, it would be a full week before NOLA's client sites were back up - a week when "I had nowhere to turn," Baber said.

The Search for A Safer Facility

While the client servers came back up, the corporate NOLAcom.com servers, which were housed in a second-floor facility, were completely down. Two weeks after Katrina struck, Baber finally was able to retrieve his servers from the New Orleans colocation facility. This involved entering with armed security, carrying servers from NOLA's corporate offices on the second floor to a pirogue (a small flat Cajun fishing boat), and then loading them onto a flatbed truck for the return trip to Dallas.

Before returning to New Orleans, Baber had urgently searched for a new colo facility, looking at both Atlanta- and Dallas-area providers. After ruling out Atlanta (too often in the path of disintegrating hurricanes) he compared locations, prices, and value and took onsite tours. There was no shortage of facilities, but he discovered that most had major shortcomings. And he knew he needed ready access to the facility at any hour of the day or night - something that he did not have with a large outsourcer hosting NOLA servers at another Dallas-area location.

When he first pulled up to the Colo4, Baber initially was skeptical.

"I thought, you've got to be kidding. There's no way I'm putting my servers in a one-floor facility," Baber said. But he met Paul VanMeter and toured the facilities. Baber was amazed how they had transformed the building, but grilled them the entire time.

"When was the last time you lost power? When was the last time a tornado came through? What's the flood plain? What kind of fire prevention system is in place?" Baber recalled. "Anything imaginable that would make the service go down, I asked about." 

Getting the Job Done In Mere Hours

Colo4 understood how much was riding on their servers, and patiently answered all of his questions. Understandably, Baber was also concerned about having his router reconfigured for Dallas, and was impressed that they had the know-how to do that on the spot.

"The issues for me were having access to the facilities at all hours of the day; "Remote Hands" service - people who have hands-on technical know-how; and ensuring that the facilities are capable of handling all of my needs and demands," Baber explained. However, the biggest challenge of all was finding a facility that could accommodate NOLA once Baber returned with his servers. "What really distinguished Colo4 was their willingness get me up and running that same day - as soon as I signed the contract," Baber said. "They bent over backwards to accommodate me and they worked on my router, getting that configured. I signed the contract around noon and I was up and running by 5 o'clock."

Ultimately, the Smartest Move

After making the move, Baber has been very satisfied with Colo4.

"They've been very good people to work with. They're knowledgeable. They're very responsive. They have the technical know-how, and are very friendly and cooperative. I can't say enough about them. They understand my needs. And I have the ability to grow with them as I need additional services." Baber said.

Security was also a key consideration, due to the nature of the data on their servers. But NOLA moved from a cabinet to a secure cage. Baber cites the reassurance provided by Colo4's biometrics technology used for authentication and the fact that staff members are there 24/7.

Baber acknowledges that it is painful going from one site to another and reconfiguring your router, but he feels that in the end, NOLA has found an even-better colocation facility and plans to transition the rest of their servers from their original New Orleans provider.

"You want to stay in one place and hope and pray that they're good people," Baber summarized. "And fortunately I did find some that are reputable, and very credible, capable and trustworthy, which is critical."