SIMI VALLEY, October 26, 2004 - As relayed by Christopher Congdon, Network Engineer, Congdon Web LLC.

"After we first purchased and set-up NovaNet WEB on our server, we were looking to start selling it to our customers. One of our first customers was Bowes Seal Fast (www.bowessealfast.com). Bowes is an auto-parts distribution company based in Indianapolis that specializes in tire repair products. This company has been around for a very very long time. (Do a google search on them and you’ll find them heavily involved with auto racing back in the day).

The largest problem with Bowes is that they have been through a lot of changes in the past couple of decades. They used to be a manufacturer, but now, they only distribute for other manufacturers, and most of their own products are licensed out for production. They have also changed management and ownership several times. We got involved with Bowes because my father knows the current owner. After talking with Fred Azbell (Bowes’ current owner) he agreed to let us host his website and email, and we agreed to also maintain his internal network. However, the years of problems with the company have resulted in a bad mish-mosh of technology. When we started working with their network, it consisted of a Pentium 200, a Pentium 233, a P2-333, a Celeron 700 laptop, and a P4 1.7. All of this was tied together through an old 3-com 10bT hub connected straight to a DSL modem. Their main use of the network was to share the DSL line and their QuickBooks data. They had QuickBooks installed on the P2 and P4 systems and were sharing the data, which was located on the P4 system.

One of the first things we talked Bowes into allowing us to do was to setup NovaNet Web on their network. We were concerned that the age of their technology might cause problems down the road. They didn’t believe they had anything to worry about since the QuickBooks data was on their newest PC. After we told them we’d give them a 30day trial for free, we set it up to back up every night. A week later, I came into my office and checked my messages. There were about 5 frantic messages from Bowes. The P4 had crashed.

I went out there and confirmed that the hard drive on the system had died. They really started to panic about their QuickBooks data. Several years’ worth of important information was located there. I calmly went over to the other system that had QuickBooks installed on it and set up the Nova Net WEB client software on it and set up a restore. After about an hour, they looked at the QuickBooks files and confirmed that everything was there except the data they had put in that morning. They were ecstatic. The office manager told me she’s not sure that there would have been any way for them to re-do everything that had been in QuickBooks. After that experience, Bowes has been happy to pay our monthly fees for the online backup service we offer. They even asked us to upgrade their IT to help minimize any future problems."

About NovaStor
Based in Simi Valley, CA, NovaStor Corp. had been delivering data backup and recovery solutions since 1987. NovaStor was among the first to help resellers and service providers fulfill the burgeoning demand for online, offsite backup. NovaStor solutions are available worldwide direct and through channel partners. For more information, please visit http://www.novastor.com.