Hurricane Gustav August 28, 2008 4:00PM Central

This is what is taking up a lot of time and energy here in at FastTrack HQ today. The red X is our office location.

If the storm is of average size we may have 75-100 MPH winds. Katrina  in 2005 was about 60 miles east of us. See photos pictures below of what Katrina did here at the office. Baton Rouge is much higher and further inland than New Orleans. Still, the impact could be severe with power and telecommunications interruptions.

Note: all the preparations discussed below will be complete before close of business Friday. FastTrackers will be getting evening updates from our server in Arizona Friday evening, through Labor Day, and likely Tuesday. We will evacuate a single employee with a fully loaded computer out of the storm path. Our basic functions can be run from a single PC  in a hotel room downloading to a remote server. Evening updates could be delayed 60-90 minutes to about 8:15PM Eastern time while the download to the remote server takes place.

FastTrack Disaster Control- February 2008 Update

We've taken advantage of Microsoft's virtual server technology. Using this technology we can transport the three critical computer environments from machine to machine without  a total system rebuild. Not only does this make us less vulnerable to computer failure, but also we can now operate through a server bank located in a major, secure facility in Arizona (godaddy.com).

With this technology we can send and receive everything we need with a laptop and operate from a hotel or Starbucks internet link in another state. The  evening update would then be placed on the Arizona  server. DNS redirection would send your request for evening updates to the remote server instead of our standard server.

We've actually used these procedures on real FastTrackers. Users were totally unaware that their updates were coming from the Arizona  during this period. We have now made this a part of our facility plan.

It is important to our subscribers that FastTrack services be available every market day. Although our offices are in Louisiana, the building is 50 above sea level, 70 miles from the Gulf beaches, and protected from local backwater flooding by 4-foot levees.

We operate under the following guidelines.

• All our critical computers are redundant.
• Since Katrina, we have updated our power backup to include the latest generation of UPS integrated with a diesel generator.
• The critical computers are programmed to operate standalone without connection to a central file server or to other in house machines.
• There are two Internet service providers.  AT&T below ground, and a Godaddy offsite server arrangement.
• The FTComm program, along with internet redirection services that allow customers to access our servers regardless of where connected to the internet.
• Nightly, data and programs are copied off site.
• A large desktop-replacement laptop is always ready to be taken off site. This single machine is capable of performing all critical data-updates, FTP server communications, and customer database access.
• Our customer support phone system uses voice over IP (Vonage). The Vonage devices (buy them at Walmart) are about the size of a sardine can. They are easy to transport to another internet access point anywhere in the world. They start taking calls to our regular phone numbers within a minute of being reconnected.
• Our employees are each cross trained in at two or more areas including technical support, update data processing, computer programming, and customer service. This not only helps us survive bad weather, but also makes vacation scheduling and staff turnover much easier to manage.

FastTrack 6-acre Campus Photos from Katrina

Brown office roof in the two photos  below

History of Storms and FastTrack

Since 1989, we have weathered three serious storms, Hurricanes Andrew , Katrina, and Rita . Two passed within 60 miles of FastTrack offices. Rita was more than a 100 miles away, but was a huge storm. We experienced no facility damage (trees are a different matter), but were without electric utility power for 5 days  after Andrew, 8 hours with Katrina, and 12 hours during Rita.. We have never missed an evening update due to weather.

We appreciate the patience and good wishes from FastTrackers everywhere. Bear in mind, that except in the 20-30 mile wide path of the eye of a hurricane, conditions are not as dramatic as portrayed on TV although flooding and power outages can be widespread.

Katrina news coverage was almost entirely contained in the yellow circle although the entire area in the inset square is heavily populated. Note the Gulf and lake water exposure of the New Orleans area. It wasn't the wind, it was the salt water flooding that caused the problems. FT does NOT have this kind of exposure in Baton Rouge.

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