about three weeks while that issue was settled before we were allowed to move anything.”


In addition, GO was transitioning to a new computer server, so they lost two servers. Hall adds, “Te other thing that exacerbated the damage was the battery backups we used for a lot of the computers. Te battery backups kept the fans going so the computers kept on sucking in soot from the fire. We’re all taught we need battery backup and I never had thought of the downside of that. We opened a couple of them, and they were full of soot and dust. So we needed all new computers.”


Hall says, “Our outside IT service, Compex, Inc., does both onsite and cloud backup for us. Key critical files are backed up every two hours and the less critical files are backed up overnight.” Klundt adds, “We also can track the records of what we’ve done in the past because of Jerry’s forward thinking in making those arrangements with our IT folks.”


Hall says, “With all our data on the cloud, reconnecting was not the problem. Replacing our computers and related hardware was a bigger issue. We had to concentrate on making the rest of our operations functional, so we outsourced the computer system restoration to our IT folks giving them the okay to spend within reason. Tey


TPI Turf News May/June 2019


had some of the computers and hardware on-hand and ordered in whatever else we needed. Of course, we had to pay extra for the additional service, as well as the expense of replacing the computers, but not doing it was not an option. Because of all that, Compex, Inc. didn’t hit my goal of totally up and running again in 24 hours, but they made it within 36 hours.”


“For our business, this was the worst time for the fire to happen, but the timing was fortunate in one area—we had sent our materials off to NTEP,” says Klundt. “On the other hand, a lot of research materials we were working to coordinate for fall planting were in the building. Seed that we had gathered over time, all precisely labeled and stored on one shelf, was reduced to one big pile of seeds. We have no idea what of our research was lost in that.”


Hall adds, “Te seed for all the key, critical, early-stage projects was on my desk which was four feet from the epicenter of the fire. Temperatures were well over 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Tose small quantities of seed on my desk didn’t survive. Tat’s at least a year setback for our research.”


15


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76