Charley Misses Tampa Bay, Tech Data To Open as Scheduled

The Clearwater, Fla.-based distributor, and Tampa Bay-area VARs were lucky. Others were not.

The storm, with winds reaching 180 miles per hour, has reportedly killed at least 16 people in the state and causing billions of dollars in damage, Florida Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings said Sunday.

Tech Data and several solution providers closed last Friday as the storm approached.

"Sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry, but everything is back to normal," said Elio Levy, senior vice president of marketing at Tech Data last Saturday. "Most employees live in low areas, or have family in low areas."

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Several Tech Data employees were expected to come in over the weekend to catch up on work missed when Tech Data closed last Friday when the hurricane was barrelling up the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Many meteorologists had expected Charley to hit directly over Tampa Bay, which would have made it the first hurricane to hit the area in more than 80 years.

"We've had a lot of brushes with storms, but not direct hits. It can be easy or disastrous. You never know what will happen," Levy said Friday before the storm passed.

Some Central Florida solution providers remained open Friday morning, and staff was unsure when they would close.

"It's fine outside right now. We have stuff to do. We'd like to get stuff out for the customers," said Pat Walsh, president of Computer Station of Orlando, Longwood, Fla.

Walsh was not surprised that Tech Data chose to close for the day.

"I have clients there buttoning up yesterday at 3 p.m. and not planning to come in [today]," he said. "That's what's going on. All the schools are closed. They're closing the parks here. They don't close the parks just because. I think it's only the second time they've done that."

ConnectWise, a Tampa, Fla.-based solution provider, was staffed by a skeleton crew on Friday morning. Robin Brewer, senior systems engineer at the company, said Thursday the company was busy helping customers prepare their systems in the event of a power outage or other situation.

Other solution providers appeared to have closed for the day. Phones were unanswered at Acuity Solutions, a Tampa, Fla., solution provider, or GCA, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based solution provider, on Friday.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.