I recall that back when I ran the computing department at university I was getting increasingly frustrated with the sales people from various computer companies. It was often hard just to get a quote. And apparently this lives on:
The facility in Ottawa where my machines are colocated is going out of business. So I went looking around for a colocation provider in Montréal. I started sending out mails. 3 out of 4 did not reply to my inquiry. The one that responded only did so after a few resends.
After much request tracking ticket bouncing back and forth I finally got to speak to a real person. We arranged a tour of the facility and off I went. I got the tour, no issues there. There were a few things that weren't to my liking. As well all know, rack compatibility is a major hassle. And obviously colocation providers can't standardize on one vendor's racks. So these guys went to the extreme and provided A/V style racks that work with almost no computer gear. Argh.
Anyway. The day after the tour I got a mail from the sales person asking me if I had further questions. And I did. Among other things I had forgotten to ask whether their facility had a fire suppression system, as I did not recall seeing any gas tanks. No response. I resent the mail after a few days. Still no response.
So in the end I ended up joining some of the expatriots from the colo in Ottawa. It is a drag that my machines are a 2 hour drive away, but at least these people know what they are doing and they are interested in doing business.
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