Heroic New Orleans hosting outfit battles on

No surrender for directNIC.com

We're obliged to reader Paul Hatch to alerting us to the heroic struggle of web hosting outfit directNIC.com - owned by Intercosmos Media Group - which is currently continuing to operate from a 10th-floor datacenter in New Orleans' Business district.

The company's website states:

Intercosmos Media Group, Inc. wants to thank all of its directNIC.com customers for the overwhelming support and inquiries into our wellbeing.

We are based in New Orleans and located in a secure and dry skyscraper, where our datacenter has remained fully operational.

Our staff is safe and well -- some have been working around the clock in New Orleans to keep clients running smoothly, and other employees have left to safer locations to keep an eye on the network from afar.

We are pleased to announce that we haven't lost service once during this entire distaster, and we have three weeks of backup power secured, and more resources are on the way.

Additionally, backup options outside of New Orleans are being implemented as an added precaution.

Thank you for your support and know we are working hard to maintain our excellent services even during this castrophe.

Sincerely,

Sigmund J. Solares, J.D., M.B.A. CEO Intercosmos Media Group, Inc.

There's even a blow-by-blow blog of the unfolding drama. While we applaud directNIC's efforts to keep the internet afloat out there in Louisiana, we reckon it may be time for an attack of good sense. Here's the entry for 2.15am local time:

It's been a very long day. I'm going to crash for a bit and try to get 5 hours or so of sleep. I apologize again that I cannot respond to each IM. I am trying. We've got that IRC channel going and I'll try to get in there for a while later in the day.

I am going to debrief the police officer completely in the morning. He was utterly fatigued, thirsty, and wanted to find out what the hell was really going on.

Security has become a major concern now, because the NOPD is ineffective and the looters terrorists are roaming the streets. Word is now that they're lighting buildings on fire, but I can't confirm that. Anyway, we have to run guard shifts and patrol and it limits our downtime.

It is a zoo out there though, make no mistake. It's the wild kingdom. It's Lord of the Flies. That doesn't mean there's murder on every street corner. But what it does mean is that the rule of law has collapsed, that there is no order, and that property rights cannot and are not being enforced. Anyone who is on the streets is in immediate danger of being robbed and killed. It's that bad.

I will be back on around 0700 or so I think.

Crikey. There are also some snaps taken from the directNIC offices to be found here, and the blog has a link to a live webcam, although we couldn't access it at time of writing.

In the meantime - and given we have just heard that the airlift of stranded hurricane victims from New Orleans' Superdome has been suspended after ne'er-do-wells shot at a rescue helicopter - we have this bit of advice for the directNIC.com staff: we salute you but it's time to leave. ®