With one eye on the coverage of Hurricane Sandy and the other on how the company has handled the disaster recovery efforts, I want to give our customers, our business partners and our friends an update from my perspective. At the peak of the hurricane, our primary concerns were to ensure the stability of our network and communications services for our customers and confirm our employees were safe and well.
While there were a few isolated situations, I’m pleased to report we had no major services disruptions. Our preparation efforts played a big part in keeping our customers’ services running, along with the tireless effort and expertise of our employees, who worked long hours to monitor and maintain the integrity of our network. Our sites were prepared with back-up systems, emergency generators and UPS batteries in the event commercial power was unavailable, and we were ready to run on fuel and battery resources as long as refueling resources were available. On a weekend, one of our employees delivered gas to one of our sites to help run dryers and generators, while power was out at his home. Looking generally at the details from open and closed support tickets, I’m proud to read how our field, sales, engineering, network and support teams helped (and are continuing to help) our customers in extraordinary ways. Keeping our services up in times of natural disaster is critical, and the commitment we have to our customers is real.
Our network services aside, it’s upsetting to know that people’s lives have been turned upside down through the effects of the storm. We’ve been truly concerned with the safety and well being of our employees in the eastern region. Employees across the country have asked how they can help, so we initiated a donation-matching program with the American Red Cross. Our employees are helping with their contributions, and our company is helping by matching each contribution our employees make up to a total of $50,000. We’ve also partnered with Graebel Van Lines to transport specific material donations we gather this week, to be distributed by an East Coast national emergency management team to victims of Hurricane Sandy. We’re personally asking businesses and vendors on the Front Range of Colorado to participate in the effort. If you would like to join our collective goods-donation, please send an email.
As we monitored our network throughout the storms, we noticed a significant increase in voice traffic as people understandably attempted to stay in touch with family and with work. The resiliency of our network and the efforts of our staff have enabled people to communicate with each other and provide support with emergency services. We will continue to monitor our network and our facilities, the storms and the recovery efforts, and we will help those in need in every way we can. I hope that those who have been affected by the storm can begin to get back to their routines and create enough balance to recover from the effects of this epic storm.
About Andrew Crouch
