People of the World Wide Web:

My name is Dylan Youngs, as you may have predicted from the title “Meet Dylan Youngs.” As TurnKey Internet’s newest member, I am here to introduce myself and to tell you some things that you probably don’t know about me!

I recently graduated from SUNY Oneonta with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications. Along with spending my four years of college in Oneonta, I also spent the first 18 years of my life there. The “City of the Hills” is known for its cold cheese pizza, the legendary “Squirrelman”, and Brook’s Barbeque—where Hillary Clinton once stopped in for a finger lickin’ good time.

At SUNY Oneonta, I had the opportunity to study abroad in London, England, and also to gain some professional experience in Burlington, VT. I now like to think of myself as an International Man of Mystery (although I am the only one who has ever actually used that title for myself). In Vermont, I worked as a Marketing and Promotions Intern for a Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Oakland A’s. There, I got to meet Billy Beane of Moneyball and Mini Kiss—for all you baseball and little Gene Simmons fans out there. I also put my Speedo on and dipped my toes in the great sea of Marketing, and realized that I would like to swim with the great white sharks of the biz one day (from now on, I am referring to myself as a blacktip reef shark, which is approximately six feet in length, as am I).

TurnKey hired me to take on a new position, Direct Marketing Ambassador, and I am thrilled to be here! This is a great opportunity to get my foot in the door at a company that is rapidly growing, and in an industry that that is developing just as fast. I have found that everyone who works here has their own awesome, unique personalities, which—amazingly—somehow blend into a big, happy ball of high-fives and “hip-hip hoorays”. Now I am here to bring chest-bumps and The Wave to this TurnKey Stadium.

Well, that is all for now. Signing off!

 Read more about Dylan…

Join us in welcoming Alan Rosenberg, Strategic Account Manager, to the TurnKey team!

 
“I came to the grand opening of TurnKey a few months ago and remember being very impressed with the direction Adam was going. His operation is remarkable. I possess my own sustainability concerns, so I was glad to see the green initiatives that TurnKey is taking. I have known Adam since his days at Global when I sold them beepers—I hope that does not give away my age.

“Besides Adam, I knew Tim and David before joining TurnKey. I knew of their work, and knew Adam has a good staff. I was thrilled to see that they were looking for an outside sales person, and again when I was hired to focus on growing the Channel Partner Program and handle Enterprise accounts.

“TurnKey has the solutions for your IT needs. Please stop in for a tour, or visit our web site www.turnkeyinternet.net. I can be reached at 518-618-0999 ext 109 or arosenberg@turnkeyinternet.net.

“I am looking forward to contributing to the TurnKey blog. Keep an eye out every month for ‘Alan’s Cloud Tip of the Month,’ and other articles.”

 
Read more about Alan…

Howdy Do, TurnKey Lovers?

It’s your favorite technician, back with another delightful treat. Haha, okay, maybe I should tone down the favoritism. I could be your favorite technician, or it could be any of our other wonderful techs. For the sake of this article, let’s just assume that I’m your number 1 guy.

Another year has come and gone, and what a year it was. That’s what I want to speak to you about today. If you don’t mind, let’s do a bit of reflection for a moment. Let’s take a step into the TurnKey time machine to look at this past year. (No, you can’t buy mine. Get your own.)

2012 has been one hell of a year, and I will give you the TurnKey Top Plays. Think of it like SportsCenter’s Top Plays, but with TurnKey. All of you sport fans should appreciate the top plays. I mean, why else do you watch SportsCenter at 3 in the morning? Okay, okay, I digress. Jeremy, stay on topic. Ah, yes, our Top Plays of the past year…

Let’s begin the countdown at number 5:

5. Welcomed new staff into the TurnKey family

Yes, this makes the Top Plays. We’ve added a few new members to our TurnKey family. I’m sure you’re already familiar with one, Emily Wegener. She’s the lovely lady who edits all of these posts; making us writers/technicians look better at this blogging thing than we are. Another new member of our TurnKey family—even though he doesn’t always stay because of something called “college”—Is Jared Rutnik. Jared helps Emily keep our TurnKey name out there in this delightful world of the Internet. Last but not least, we welcomed another technician, Chris Day.

4. Launched new products across our product lines

While we did launch several new products this year, I would say one of the most fun—yet frustrating—products has to be CloudFlare and Attracta. These services are now included with every sign up for one of our reseller or SEO accounts. It helps our customers not only attain higher page rankings, but it also gives redundancy with CloudFlare, should you need it.

3. Complete overhaul of our Reseller system

Okay, you might be saying, “Why is this in the top 3?” Well, have you ever used ZamFoo? It can be a pain, if you’ve never had the pleasure. While yes, it did provide additional functionality to our resellers, it became very clear that an in-house or custom-built reseller platform would be the way to go. Our new reseller system is a lot easier for end users to navigate, and also provides additional functionality that isn’t included in ZamFoo. For example, changing a site’s IP via ZamFoo can be a confusing process for a reseller. He or she would have to upgrade the account, assign the IP, and then downgrade the account. Our new reseller platform streamlines that process so you can just use the IP manager to change IP’s.

2. Survived Hurricane Sandy

Now, you may be wondering why this made the list, as our data center is in Upstate New York and not down by the coast. Well, many local businesses in our area had severe wind and rain impact. There was flooding all around, and some of our clients were deeply affected by the storm. Providing top-notch support across the board in billing, customer service, and technical support helped to keep some customers’ minds at ease about their hosting. While this might seem trivial, it made a tremendous difference to many of our clients. We were contacted numerous times, to confirm that our data center would survive the storm. Special accommodations were made for users who needed assistance with their billing or support during this difficult time. I’m proud to say that the TurnKey family pulled together and that we all did our best to help by any means we could, even if it was just letting customers pay their bill later so that they could focus on other things.

1. Moved into our new datacenter.

This is easily number one for me. Moving into a new data center while building it can make things a bit hectic. Users’ servers go off-line to be moved, and servers get transported from the old data center to the new one. If you had been here to witness the sheer amount of work that went into the project, you would have been amazed. Well, I know I was. The way the staff pulled together to migrate servers while dealing with the support issues being raised was nothing short of phenomenal. Sure, there were bumps along the way, but we all pitched in, as a team should, and got the job done. It made me proud to be a member of this TurnKey family.

Well there you go, TurnKey lovers. While it may not be a Top 10 list like SportsCenter, it doesn’t diminish the importance of each point.

Until next time…

While Hurricane Sandy has been downgraded to a severe storm that still is impacting parts of the Northeast U.S. with wind, rain, and flooding, the initial, direct storm impact on our regional datacenter in New York has passed without any impact to service or performance.

Our facility remained running–fully on utility power–at all times, with no disruptions to service. All fiber optic network connections, including our dark fiber build, remain at 100% operational status, and all backup network and power systems also remain at 100% operational status. All Internet carrier connection points report full operational status, with no outages reported in the last 24 hours. At this time we have completed our Emergency Preparedness Stage II Plan, which has been in effect since Sunday – returning to normal operational status as of 12:01 PM EST today, October 30th, 2012.

We are happy to report that all employees and their families are safe and sound, and have either reported for duty or checked in to confirm their status. Many clients who have contacted us from within the impacted regions also report they are safe – which we are very grateful to hear.

Some severe flooding in parts of New York continue at this time. For instance, you may see on the news that the stock exchange has been closed for a 2nd day. Major power outages and other effects of Hurricane Sandy are impacting millions of people,but our New York datacenter facility remains over 2,000 feet above sea level and far removed from the impacted flood zone. We do not anticipate any issues related to the flooding in these regions of New York, but will continue to monitor the situation.

Thank you all for the well wishes that were sent to TurnKey Internet and our staff in the last 24 hours. Our thoughts and best wishes are with those who remain in the regions experiencing the after effects of Hurricane Sandy, and we hope for a speedy recovery for all who have been impacted.

This is a phrase we’ve all heard before. That infamous first impression is the moment of truth: when a new person is deciding how to feel about us for the first time. While it may seem overly dramatic, it is hard to deny the power of the first impression. It may mean the difference between getting hired and, well, not getting hired. Even if you endure multiple interviews, the impression you give in that first moment truly does shape enduring opinions about your character. The same is true for making business deals, or forming friendships.

When I first arrived at the door of TurnKey Internet, I was ready for my nerves to sabotage my carefully planned first impression. My resume looked good, my outfit was professional, my hair was coiffed, but still, I was prepared for the worst. That’s why I was so surprised when I was greeted by smiling faces, friendly handshakes and a laid-back professionalism that exuded both confidence and welcome. I don’t know why I was expecting the worst: maybe it was my previous experiences with technology companies, or maybe I was just letting my nerves get the best of me. Still, I was bowled over by the lack of pretension and abundance of humor that greeted me at the door.

I share this story because I think, when most of a company’s interactions happen electronically, it’s easy for the people on the other end of the computer to miss out on the true heart and soul of the company. As someone who works in marketing, I often wonder how to best portray this aspect of TurnKey Internet to new clients. Making a first impression online is a challenge! Of course, there is the customer service and the products, but a company is so much more than that.

I hope by sharing my first impression of TurnKey Internet, I will give you all a little window into the heart and soul of the place. While our CEO, Adam Wills, brought the friendly, professional spirit to the company when he started it, his spirit is contagious. Everyone here shares his sense of pride in what we do, and we hope you will give us a chance to demonstrate that.

Anneke
Marketing

Nick is our Sales Manager and that’s not all. He’s a smooth talking spitfire. He’s my friend and yours. As the consummate salesman and all around jokester, Nick keeps things lively here at TurnKey while providing the world-class customer service and salesmanship you’ve come to expect.

What attracted you to the hosting business?

I have always loved and succeeded in sales. It has always been a dream of mine to grow with an upcoming company.

How did you find TurnKey?

Brian Ellwood. Turnkey is down the street from my previous employer.

What aspect of your job brings out the best in you?

Customer Service

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Other than working (yes in my free time)…. Golf

Do you have any good party tricks?

Let’s party and we can find out!!!!

Sounds like a plan, Nick! Stay tuned for more staff interviews coming soon.

As the newest guy on the team, Network Engineer Brian has already become a much-loved member of the TurnKey family. Hilarious, industrious and great at what he does, we’re all so glad to have him. Welcome, Brian!

What attracted you to the hosting business?

As a programmer by nature I found myself constantly setting up environments on which to develop. Having experience in both Windows and Nix gives me an edge in supporting and
running hosting environments. Being able to bring and constantly refine these skill-sets to a higher level is a challenge that I enjoy.

How did you find TurnKey?

Through a colleague, by happenstance.

What aspect of your job brings out the best in you?

Working in a dynamic and versatile environment allows me to shine as a Jack-of-all-trades.

Do you have any hobbies?

In the Winter I enjoy snowmobiling in the Adirondack’s and during the Summer I like to work in the yard.

Tell me something interesting about yourself…

My left arm is longer than my right arm.

What hardware/software do you use on your home computer?

Windows 7 x64, Ubuntu Server 8.04 LTS