Houston VARs Brace For Hurricane Rita

Hurricane Rita reached Category 5 status late Wednesday as it inched its way west across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas. More than 1 million Texas and Louisiana residents reportedly are evacuating the area projected to be in Rita&s path.

Many solution providers say they are ready for a worst-case scenario.

“What&s scary is it grew from Category 2 to Category 4 in eight hours. No one living in Houston has ever seen a Category 5,” said Robert Rhodes, CEO of Systems Evolution, Houston.

The solution provider planned to close its Houston headquarters Thursday and Friday and has backed up its operations to offices in San Antonio and Austin, Rhodes said. “We put together plans early [Wednesday] morning when we knew it had been upgraded. We have [systems in place] to relocate. That was done pre-New Orleans,” he said.

Several Systems Evolution employees in Austin and San Antonio have volunteered to host evacuating families from Houston, Rhodes said. “We&re fairly lucky in that our corporate secretary was in emergency response for 10 to 15 years. He&s been monitoring the weather conditions, putting together plans,” he added.

Houston has experienced several major storms in the past, so most of Systems Evolution&s customers are adequately prepared, Rhodes said. “Most of our managed services come out of San Antonio. We did that on purpose because of Houston being able to be hit by a hurricane. [Our customers] have heeded us the whole year when it comes to backing up, but we&re starting to get a lot more of those clients post-New Orleans.”

Meanwhile, Wright Business Technologies also planned to close its office after scurrying around to make last minute tweaks to some clients& IT systems, said Stephen Wright, president of the Houston solution provider.

The devastation wrought by Katrina has led his customers to be more protective than in the past, Wright said. “It influences. Houston has had its share of hurricanes in and around the area. But I&m not so sure we&re making it more serious as much as the individual companies are taking it more seriously,” he said. “Starting this morning and late yesterday, we&ve been hit hard by customers calling us and saying, ‘I think I want that backup system you&ve been mentioning.& We&ve been scrambling a little with those that don&t have adequate protection. We&ll get some decent solutions together to get them through the weekend.”

In times of potential disaster, solution providers are often caught having to balance the needs of their customers and those of employees. At the same time, Wright Business Technologies tries to secure customers& networks, its workers are scrambling to ensure the safety of their own families, Wright said. In this case, there appears to be time for both.

“The road up to Dallas, I-45 North, has been very heavy on traffic the last several days,” he said. “One of my staff put his mother on a plane. He lives in South Houston, so he&s moving a little further north just in case. The rest of us live up north, where there is less concern than if you&re on the south side. Overall, we have some customers already closing.”

Other IT companies, including a large contingent of HP employees in Houston, closed their offices Thursday and Friday. Several solution providers in Galveston, Texas, also expected to be in Rita&s path, didn&t return phone calls on Thursday.