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East Coast solution providers are bracing for Hurricane Sandy's impact Monday after spending last week and even the weekend doing their best to prepare their clients for possible power outages or flooding.
Sam Ruggeri, president of Advanced Vision Technology Group, Hauppauge, N.Y., said all his employees were working remotely Monday but staying in touch as they ride out the storm. Advanced Vision offered clients help to properly shut down their IT in advance of the storm but everyone chose to keep IT up and to work remotely, Ruggeri said.
"We're all working until something happens. We started talking to them early on and over the weekend. Obviously, everybody knows what's going on but we're still all on [Long] Island," Ruggeri said. "We did an email to clients this morning. Some of them said they're not sure about tomorrow. We'll see what happens."
[Related: When Disaster Strikes: Let These VARs Tell You What Can Happen]
As of 10:00 a.m. ET Monday morning, Sandy had left thousands without power and caused coastal flooding in several states.
Several tech events have also been cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, including an IBM Influencer Forum in New York and a Google press conference in New York.
Some VARs have taken to Facebook and other social media outlets to keep employees, friends and customers updated on their situation.
Ted Hunter, general manager of Champion Networks, a Brunswick, Maine-based solution provider, wrote a post that said, "Checking on clients prior to storm for backup and power protection. RV is in the yard with plenty of fresh water and propane so even if the power goes out we will have heat, a stove, and hot water ... generator is ready to keep computers on but if our ISP is offline no remote access which is a major issue for anyone in 'the cloud.'"
Pat Grillo, president and CEO of Atrion Communication Resources, a Branchburg, N.J.-based VAR, wrote on his Facebook page Monday morning, "Well, we are starting to feel the effects of Sandy. Hopefully we can get done what we need to and get the employees that came in home safely before it gets really bad. I am not liking the pictures I am seeing from the shore and the storm is still 300 miles away."
NEXT: Tips On How To Prepare For A Hurricane
