In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast area of the United States, The Alpha Group has been working hand in hand with affected local cable operators to help rebuild their networks. In particular, Alpha Technologies' personnel were enroute within hours of the alarm being raised, and have been available 24/7 ever since, ensuring that the needs of the operators are being met as quickly as possible.
"Cable operators need to get their systems up and running as soon as feasible, and we have been working diligently with them to provide the emergency equipment they need," commented Mike Bansavage, Alpha Technologies, Southeast Regional Sales Manager.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, there were roughly 1,700 Alpha power supplies and 400 AlphaGen™ generators affected by the hurricanes. Alpha's Technical Services group spent a combined total of four weeks living amongst the hurricane aftermath, working to get the network systems up and running. There were roughly 300 AlphaGen generators that survived and it is suspected that 50% were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. To date, Alpha has deployed over 120 generator cabinets and 500 power supplies to aid in the rebuilding.
In continuing support efforts, Alpha's facility outside Atlanta, Georgia (USA) has expedited shipments to operators in the region and talking with the operators on a daily basis. Alpha Technical Services group has continued to work on site in New Orleans, Louisiana, getting power supplies, and generators back on line. Manufacturing has implemented emergency inventory of XM2 power supplies, three battery and six battery enclosures. The Georgia facility has agreed to host a consignment battery warehouse for one of Alpha's battery manufacturers to facilitate shipping to customers within a day's notice.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have caused thousands of miles of network destruction and it is unclear exactly how much damage was incurred. The people working on the networks are so overloaded at this time, that they still have not been able to get to all of the systems to evaluate the extent of the damage. The Alpha Group is prepared to continue its role in disaster recovery assistance for many months to come.
