Christchurch IT firms continue operations after quake

Canterbury Software Summit postponed; essential staff only at Jade centre

From the IT industry’s perspective, one of the major casualties of Saturday’s Christchurch earthquake was the Canterbury Software Summit, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow.

The event, which was to have run from 12.15pm until 7pm at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Cashel St, has been postponed.
Canterbury Software Cluster chair David Johnstone says “we’ve made the decision to postpone it and an email will be going out to delegates this morning.

“The hotel is fine, but there’s not access to the CBD at the moment and many delegates are otherwise engaged – going to a conference won’t be their choice at the moment.

“We’ll be getting a plan out re alternative dates once the dust has settled.

The re-scheduled conference will take place in October or November, Johnstone says.

Jade Software’s Christchurch development centre is up and running, and back-up at the centre “worked as planned”, Jade chief innovation officer John Ascroft says.

While the building didn’t sustain any major damage, only critical staff, needed to maintain customer operations, are back at work today.

“Developers and administration staff are at home while the building is checked out,” Ascroft says.

Open source specialist Egressive is operating from the home of director Dave Lane, in the suburb of Linwood.

“We were fairly lucky – there’s no structural damage to the house, or to our premises in the city,” Lane says.

“Our building has been cleared for occupation, but the cordon is still there, so we’ll be operating from my house for the rest of the day.

“Our systems are all functioning, and we were able to resurrect them as required after the power came back on.”

Egressive has approximately 10 staff, two of whom are currently out visiting customers and checking that things are OK, Lane says.

Christchurch-based web hosting provider Net24 is operational, with a Twitter message this morning noting “Net24 is open for business after earthquake. No damage or outages experienced. Our thoughts and support go out to friends in the city.”

Some IT companies are offering free assistance to customers whose IT operations have been affected by the earthquake.