RE: Anyone ever had an iSeries stolen? -- MIDRANGE-L

Just the particulars to answer the posts:

We are a small shop, just one of several businesses in this building.  The
building has electronic locks (magnetic) but anyone familiar with those
kinds of locks knows that all you have to do is continuously jiggle the door
and eventually the magnet lets go.  We don't have an alarm system and the
building surveillance cameras turned out to be a sham: The cameras *look*
real but aren't connected to anything (well, now we know...).  They used a
channel-lock on the door knob and then, frustrated, basically busted out the
door frame.  Same for the closet we keep the iSeries in.  Once they were in
the building, they felt free to roam at ease.  Even helped themselves to
bottled water in the fridge.  I hope they had a great time....

Clearly they knew what they were doing.  They carefully disconnected all the
wiring.  Chose the server, the iSeries, a old (but nice looking) PIII 600
and a notebook.  Left everything else. That 800 weighs about 80-90 pounds
plus the server and other stuff.  They didn't have moving equipment though.
Dragged it all out on a piece of carpet. All at 4:45am,since that is when I
lost my VPN connection at my home office.

The loss of productivity is the biggest hassle plus the knowing that these
guys will walk free, even if they are ever caught, which is very unlikely.
The intellectual property isn't that huge:  Unlike many other companies that
bank on precarious, proprietary software, we are an open source shop.  So,
if it gets back into the public domain, that is where it belongs anyway
(hopefully with GPL intact).

Turns out we have some insurance and it may cover the developer discount
price of the box (It was sweet!  I miss it already!). IBM didn't have
anything but a 270 to loan us but we appreciate the offer.  Also, thanks to
all of you who offered space and access over the Internet.  Much
appreciated.  I think we have an interim plan in place.  Just need to get
paperwork going with IBM on a replacement.

Curiously, the person I spoke with at IBM in regard to "tracing" the box
said that since it wasn't sold, just leased, it was unlikely they would
recognize it as stolen if it was purchased by someone and put on
maintenance.  Hmmmm.  Maybe that was just a preliminary guess.  Seems to me
it would be easy for IBM to track stolen iSeries since they all have serial
numbers and must be in a database somewhere...

Well, I have a server to rebuild.  Doors to reinforce.  Internet
surveillance cameras to configure.  You know, all the stuff I *should* have
done years ago.

Lessons: We should have had business interruption insurance in addition to
the property insurance.  We shouldn't trust the landlord for security.
Maybe I should sleep here always instead of just a few nights a month....
:-)

Thanks for the commiseration.

Pete Helgren
Value Added Software, Inc.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Al Barsa
> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 1:21 PM
> To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> Subject: RE: Anyone ever had an iSeries stolen?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> My suspicion is that IBM will be very happy to sell them a new
> one, and not
> much else.  The used marketplace is SO shady, that they won't want to open
> that can of worms.  IBM will be happy to take their money for the
> replacement (and would likely break sequential delivery - although it's my
> understanding that models 800/810 are readily available), and take their
> money when the stolen one goes on maintenance.
>
> Whomever stole it likely has no idea of what they have, and will likely
> never use it.
>
> Al
>
> Al Barsa, Jr.
> Barsa Consulting Group, LLC
>
> 400>390
>
> 914-251-1234
> 914-251-9406 fax
>
> http://www.barsaconsulting.com
> http://www.taatool.com
>
>