Submitted By The Grays Harbor Public Development Authority
Rain, wind, snow, ice – and even power outages – don’t scare the folks at Techtell, located at the Satsop Business Park in Elma.
In fact, it’s in those stormy situations that the network monitoring center has an opportunity to do what it does best – provide reliable backup services to a variety of businesses, government offices, financial institutions and others – as well as give their clients peace of mind.
“Thanks to our reliable power supply and our redundant cable network, we provide those services for all kinds of businesses and institutions, giving them 24-hour a day, 7-day-a-week access and security,” explained Scott Sipe, co-owner and CTO of Techtell, a network monitoring center that offers its customers a safe place to store their information underground on computers inside climate-controlled cabinets. Sipe’s co-owner is the company’s president Dan Jones.
“We even can even arrange to provide a physical office space with desks, chairs and phones if our customers need it,” Sipe explained.
That’s exactly what happened during the winter storm of 2007, where the power was out for five days for most of Grays Harbor County. Two local newspapers – The Daily World and The Vidette – moved their newsroom operations up to the Satsop Business Park so they could continue to get the news out. While the rest of the county was dark and cold, systems were running at Satsop.
In fact both Techtell and Satsop Business Park gained several new customers after that storm, said Tami Garrow, CEO of the Park. “It really provided us with the ultimate example of how secure and redundant our power and network services really are. And with every storm – even this last one in January of this year – while trees are down everywhere, our systems prove themselves over and over again to be invaluable.”
Having been built as a nuclear power plant site, the Satsop Business Park’s backup systems have backup systems. Four different internet cables from different providers come into the park from different directions.
Sometimes businesses or government organization will house a computer back up system in the same building or area as their primary system. However, many disasters that would affect the main system would then also affect the backup system, Sipe points out. In addition, those businesses are often footing an expensive bill for a generator.
“The bottom line is that you can save money and gain greater security by putting your equipment here,” Sipe said.
Techtell is right in the middle of a five-county region that includes Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Pacific and Grays Harbor counties. “Some of our customers like us because we are close to their main operations while others like it that we are a ways away from their operation – it depends on your needs.”
“With some of our clients, they have even changed from having us be their backup system to having us – with our 24-hour presence – be the main computer system for their company,” he said.
“Trees fall across power lines, take out cable lines and damage phone lines,” said Garrow, “but here at Satsop Business Park with underground feeds and redundant services including backup diesel generators everywhere and even our own on-site fueling station and fuel truck and crew who live close by, it is tough to imagine a situation that would take us out of commission.
“We are too high to be flooded, on incredibly solid ground in concrete vault space, able to withstand earthquakes, hurricanes or tornados and supported in both fiber and power by partners such as Bonneville,” she said.
“Having Techtell here makes our facilities truly world-class because while we have the physical facilities and infrastructure, Techtell has the knowledge and skills to make it all work flawlessly,”
For more information about Techtell’s services, visit them at www.techtell.com or call (360) 482-7950.
