By Joel Johnson | Also by this reporter 10:34 AM Sep. 01, 2005 PT
Despite the loss of most public utilities, at least one hosting company in hurricane-battered New Orleans is still online, fighting against time and the odds to keep part of the internet humming. Occupying the 10th floor of a downtown Big Easy office building, Zipa is a typical web-hosting and co-location center, with one key difference: It's sitting smack dab in the middle of some of the worst devastation the United States has ever experienced. Story Images Click thumbnails for full-size image: See also Pay a visit to Planet Earth Today's Top 5 Stories Sonic 'Lasers' Head to Flood Zone A Disaster Map 'Wiki' Is Born Burning Man's Founder Looks Ahead Flood Waters Can't Sink Net Link When It's Good to Be a Tease Wired News RSS Feeds Breaking News Major Developments in Katrina's Aftermath Security Council to Hold Terrorism Meeting Mother, Three Kids Die in Pa. Duplex Fire Evacuee Bus Overturns in La.; One Killed Tulane Cancels Fall Semester Due to Storm More Breaking News Wire Service Photo Gallery Special Partner Promotion Find local technology jobs. With buildings reduced to soggy ruin just a few blocks away, Zipa's data center -- built by Enron in its expansionist heyday -- still operates, powered by a 750-kilowatt diesel generator and connected to the rest of the world by a fiber optic connection buried deep underneath New Orleans' flooded streets. That makes the employees of Zipa and sister company DirectNIC, which is just upstairs, some of the only flood victims in New Orleans with the ability to communicate with the outside world. It's an advantage they are quick to put to use. DirectNIC's "crisis manager," Michael "Interdictor" Barnett, updates his Live Journal continually with on-the-street reports. It may be the only blog currently both written and hosted inside New Orleans, and it's receiving nearly 3,000 visitors an hour. A webcam streams images from inside the data center, showing haggard but smiling employees. Voice-over-IP telephones let stranded workers make telephone calls even when the rest of the city's phone service is severely overloaded. A photo gallery is filled with pictures uploaded by the dozen. "We are still up and running," says Zipa's data center manager Michael Brunson. "We have people on site and they are doing well. Even if they need a bath." The atmosphere is a strange mixture of corporate casual and martial discipline. Men in shorts and polo shirts form squads to patrol and secure the 27-story high-rise -- with no working elevators. Police and National Guard members, separated from their cohorts, are using the Zipa building as a staging point and shelter. For Barnett, an Army Special Forces veteran, it's about more than just protecting the companies' assets. "I love this city, even with all its faults.... We're going to do what we can to set it right," he said. Supplies are scarce. A trip onto the streets of New Orleans to rescue a customer's server was also a chance to scavenge 25 gallons of potable water and some cleaning supplies (with the blessing of the owner, who had just hired the company to go rescue his computer). Employees stay primarily in the server room itself, enjoying the pleasures of the air conditioning necessary to keep the servers cool. Those servers host hundreds of thousands of websites and online forums, including dyspeptic internet community Something Awful. Something Awful's founder, Rich Kyanka, is taking the potential loss of service in stride. "Our last-ditch plan is to change the forums into a podcast, then send RSS feeds into the blogosphere so our users can further debate the legality of mashups amongst this month's 20 'sexiest' gadgets." Kyanka hasn't yet been contacted by Zipa with contingency plans. "As long as the servers stay up, they can stay out of contact for as long as they like," he said. But no amount of tenacity will keep Zipa's diesel generator fueled. While currently operating at less than 20 percent of its full capacity, the generator can't run forever. "We should be able to stay up a few more days with what we have in-house," said Brunson. A fuel drop on Wednesday had to be abandoned because they weren't ready with fuel drums, according to Barnett's blog. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/VpgUKB/pzNLAA/cUmLAA/vseplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/ Please let us stay on topic and be civil. OM Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
