At 18:25 8/13/98 -0400, you wrote:
know, nearly impossible. If someone in our collocation facilities could keep them up, even sub-optimally, even temporarily, I would greatly appreciate it and donate my engineering time to do whatever was necessary to get it done.
Bravo, Patrick. _This_ is how a _man_ dies, to paraphrase Bob Heinlein.
Agreed! (Excellent quotation use, BTW).
This is a perfect counter-example to what I was bitching about with the BBN fracas. Serve the customers, _then_ worry about the money.
What's horribly sad is that the lesson must be learned over and over: If you serve the customers, you don't *have* to worry about the money. Wabbit season!..duck season!..wabbit season!..duck season!..SPAMMER SEASON! Dean Robb PC-EASY computer services (757) 495-EASY [3279]
At 03:51 PM 8/14/98 -0400, Dean Robb wrote:
This is a perfect counter-example to what I was bitching about with the BBN fracas. Serve the customers, _then_ worry about the money.
What's horribly sad is that the lesson must be learned over and over: If you serve the customers, you don't *have* to worry about the money.
Not to say that one should not service the customer - just the opposite - but I believe the case in point disproves this assertion. Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a "customer oriented" kinda guy, but you still have to worry about the cash flow or you end up making pleas to people on NANOG to help your customers before you die. :(
Dean Robb
TTFN, patrick ************************************************************** Patrick W. Gilmore voice: +1-650-482-2840 Director of Operations, CCIE #2983 fax: +1-650-482-2844 PRIORI NETWORKS, INC. http://www.priori.net "Tomorrow's Performance.... Today" **************************************************************
At 15:05 8/14/98 -0700, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote:
At 03:51 PM 8/14/98 -0400, Dean Robb wrote:
This is a perfect counter-example to what I was bitching about with the BBN fracas. Serve the customers, _then_ worry about the money.
What's horribly sad is that the lesson must be learned over and over: If you serve the customers, you don't *have* to worry about the money.
Not to say that one should not service the customer - just the opposite - but I believe the case in point disproves this assertion.
Don't get me wrong, I am definitely a "customer oriented" kinda guy, but you still have to worry about the cash flow or you end up making pleas to people on NANOG to help your customers before you die. :(
I guess I wasn't clear enough...that was intended to be generalization of an good business model. Clearly, you have to be concerned with cashflow...as a small businessman, I understand this all too well...but the bottom line should not come before reasonable customer service. If you take good care of the customer, the bottom line will come. In your case, it seems that it just wasn't coming fast enough...and the speed of the Internet growth causes incredible infrastructure expenses that couldn't be offset by the slow but steady growth of the customer base. I'm very sorry that the fiscal situation has forced you into dire straits. In this unique world, traditional business models must be modified. In almost any other industry, you would have succeeded. Let me say again...the comment was not intended for the exact situation faced by Priori...it was intended to mean that if you take care of the customers, the business will come. Sadly, sometimes it doesn't come fast enough. Wabbit season!..duck season!..wabbit season!..duck season!..SPAMMER SEASON! Dean Robb PC-EASY computer services (757) 495-EASY [3279]
participants (2)
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Dean Robb -
Patrick W. Gilmore