A VAR's Katrina Tale

Universal Data overcame the havoc wrought by Katrina to become the premier disaster-recovery solution provider in New Orleans.

Jim Perrier, the president of Universal Data, stands in front of his former headquarters building in the heart of downtown New Orleans. When Katrina hit, Universal Data was a $1.5 million business, losing money. Today, Universal is a profitable $4.1 million business of 20 employees, with thriving disaster-recovery and virtualization practices.

Perrier and his employees refused to be deterred by the devastation Katrina wreaked on them and their business. Key to Universal Data's success is Perrier's philosophy, passed on to him from his dad, Jim Perrier Sr., a World War II bomber who flew 21 missions by keeping focused on the job at hand and not worrying about the risk of being shot down. "My father told me a long time ago and I live by this," said Perrier. "'For those things that you can do something about, you do something about. Those things that you can't [do something about], you don't worry about. Move on."

One Universal Data customer that had relied heavily on its inside IT department before the storm, found itself abandoned by its top IT executive after the hurricane. The solution provider stepped into the situation and built a world-class disaster recovery solution. "Today we are their IT department," Perrier said.

Perrier and Channelweb.com's Scott Campbell became good friends after Campbell traveled to New Orleans to report on the plight of VARs. Campbell could not get a hotel anywhere near the city after the disaster and ended up staying with Perrier. Campbell has regularly updated the story chronicling the comeback of solution providers like Perrier.

Perrier gave Campbell a tour of some of the sites that the reporter had witnessed firsthand. Some have rebuilt and others decided to move away. For Perrier, leaving was never an option. "We love our city," he said.

A house in the Lakeview district is just being completed three-and-a-half years after the storm. Notice the house is built on pilings to allow the structure to continue standing despite flooding at lower levels. Water covered the area where this house now stands when the 17th Street Canal levee failed. The levee failure ranks among one of the worst engineering disasters of all time.

A view of a property that was completely demolished in the wake of Katrina. The 17th Street Canal Levee is pictured in the background.

A view of the precise spot where the old and new 17th Street Canal Levee meet marked by the old brown structure and new concrete slabs. Houses that stood here were completely destroyed, never to be rebuilt.

A look at the new hydraulic pipes that have been built at 17th Street to protect New Orleans residents from another disaster. Believe it or not, Levee district officials are now concerned that wet spots along the levee could be early warning signs of a possible "fault line" similar to the one that doomed the 17th Street Canal during Katrina.

The area known as West Lakeview, a one-time boating and nightlife hub on the waterfront, has never recovered from Katrina. This area was one of the richest and most vibrant spots of the city and has yet to reclaim its past glory. "This was the hot spot to go in the city," said Perrier, who recalled taking his sons to a restaurant called Jaegers here to celebrate special occasions.

A look at a West Lakeview boathouse that remains demolished three-and-a-half years after Katrina. Perrier said he remains "very hopeful" that all of the buildings like this one will be rebuilt. "It's a slow process," he said.

Sights like this piece of heavy-duty construction equipment overlooking a lot that is being rebuilt are not unusual in New Orleans.

Perrier and Universal Data survived the Katrina disaster and came out stronger. Now he's optimistic and planning for more growth, despite the macroeconomic woes. Last October, he hired a new business development manager, Rhonda Ladner, to drive new opportunities. Here Perrier and Ladner pose in front of The Palace Cafe, owned by Dickie Brennan, one of Perrier's clients.

Perrier has built Universal Data into the No. 1 disaster-recovery and virtualization specialist in the greater New Orleans area, teaming with vendors like VMware, EMC, Cisco and Microsoft. He said in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster, more businesses are "paying attention to the fact that things can go wrong and you can lose information. And you lose business. During the Hurricane, everyone was worried about protecting their computers. But it is the information that counts. I think the rest of the country is catching on to that."