Page 124 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

Mission Critical Team outside Peterson Power facility in San Leandro, California
data storage for individuals and small businesses who want off-site redundant capacity.These server farms are similar to rental storage facilities. Back in the 1990s, customers could rent 10-foot square chain-link cages, bring in their own computer equipment and maintain it themselves. “They lit- erally looked like outdoor dog cages,”Treat recalls, now senior engineer for Peterson Power. “Guys would sit on chairs banging away on their equip- ment in their little cages. They had zip-tied tags on each cage, stating who it belonged to. And then all of a sudden, those tags disappeared. Later, I found out it was because some guys would walk around with a broomstick handle and push the ‘off ’ button of their competitor’s equipment through the chain link fence. That was back when it was the Wild West. Today you don’t put your own equipment in there. You can rent five terabytes of space, but you’re just renting a number. The rest of it is none of your business.”
PETERSON’S MISSION CRITICAL TEAM
Peterson has been able to grow with the industry because of a large specialized team of sixty em- ployees—some in-territory, others at remote sites. “From the beginning, we’ve had support from the top to hire highly skilled engineers and proj- ect managers even before the concept was prov- en,” says Hamilton. “We took those risks and it’s worked out really well for us for Big Data and all our market segments.” Today, Peterson’s Mission Critical Team is comprised of 24 project managers and engineers, 3 sales reps, management and sup- port staff, plus a traveling team of technicians for commissioning, testing and certification. “Back in the old days, we had one project manager for every sales rep,” says Hamilton. “Now we have a four-to- one ratio because these projects are so large and complex with very tight deadlines.”
122 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG