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November Madness

photo courtesy Duke University

If you run into some blue-paint-covered, chest-pounding, decibel-breaking fellows in Lahaina later this month, don’t be alarmed.

Every year in November, when the EA Sports Maui Invitational gets under way, the college basketball world springboards into a new season, and Lahaina jumpstarts its holiday tourism season. This year, the tournament features powerhouse Duke University and the team’s most rabid fans, known as the Cameron Crazies.

And that’s good news. According to tournament officials, roughly 4,500 out-of-state visitors traveled to Maui for last year’s event. That included players, officials, media, sponsors and fans, who all pumped $8.5 million into the local economy. In the tournament’s 24-year history, basketball faithful have left behind approximately $120 million on the island.

“For almost a quarter century, Maui has significantly benefited from this event, not only on the economic front but also from an exposure standpoint,” says Terryl Vencl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau. “The [tournament] annually provides an ideal platform on which Maui and its culture shine.”

The 24th tournament features, in addition to Duke, Arizona State, Illinois, Louisiana State, Marquette, Oklahoma State and Princeton along with the local host university, Chaminade. As far as exposure? All 12 tournament games will be shown across the country to an estimated 7 million television viewers on ESPN. Then, for diehard fans, the tourney, which runs Nov. 19-21, in the 2,400-seat Lahaina Civic Center, a rare intimate setting to see such big-time university talent compete.
And to see how crazy their fans get.

-Kyle Galdeira

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FO’ REAL

In our tight labor market, sometimes you have to interview people you wouldn’t normally consider for a position. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Accountemps recently surveyed executives nationwide about “the strangest pitches they’ve heard from potential hires.” Here are the top responses. Apparently, we are not the only state dealing with hiring issues.
“One candidate said that we should hire him because he would be a great addition to our softball team.”

“A candidate sang all of her responses to interview questions.”

“One job seeker said he should get the job because he had already applied three times and felt that it was now his turn.”

“One individual said we had nice benefits, which was good because he was going to need to take a lot of leave in the next year.”

“A person said he had no relevant experience for the position he was interviewing for – but his friend did.”

“An applicant once told me she wanted the position because she wanted to get away from dealing with people.”

“One person brought his mother to the job interview and let her do all of the talking.”

“An individual told me he was allergic to unemployment.”

 

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Where's the Lava?

On Jan. 3, 1983, Kilauea erupted, creating an unparalleled display of flowing lava inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The easy trip to view the lava flow–visitors simply drove to the end of a paved coastal park road at dusk and looked mauka–became the crowning moment for any park visit. There, the hill throbbed with oozing red and steam jetted out of the sea where the lava finally entered.

Not anymore.

photo courtesy U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey

Nearly a quarter of a century later, Pele has shut off the tap. After a series of tremors on Father’s Day morning in June, Kilauea now erupts outside the park and the lava no longer flows to the sea. At the moment, lava is flowing inland through the Kahaualea and Wao Kele O Puna natural area reserves, owned by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and Office of Hawaiian Affairs, respectively. For safety reasons, both areas are closed to the public. The only way to see the current eruption is from the air.

So what are people saying about the sudden disappearance of the lava equivalent of Old Faithful? Befuddled visitors have expressed disappointment when stopping at the park welcome center. But so far, they are still coming, says Jessica Ferracane, a spokeswoman for the Big Island Visitors Bureau. However, it’s too early to tell what the ultimate impact will be, with little media coverage to date of the lava shift.

In July, 321,217 people visited the park, up 14 percent from the same month last year. August showed a slight drop in visitor totals, but year-to-date visitor counts are slightly higher than 2006 totals. Besides the lava, visitors can see lava tubes, massive craters, steam vents, rain forests and ancient rock carvings. Visitors also can bike, camp and hike throughout the park.

“People are still having an incredible time,” says Mardie Lane, park ranger at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. And certain kinds of businesses, like helicopter tour companies, are experiencing a boon.

-Jason Ubay

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Hawaii Business defines often-spoken words, new and old, to help you make sense of what's being said.

Al Desko: As in “Dining al desko.” A play on the Italian term “alfresco,” which means “taking place or located in the outside air,” workers dine al desko when they need to work during their lunch hour or if they need to use the Internet for nonwork-related activities such as shopping, surfing perezhilton.com or updating fantasy football rosters. The American Dietetic Association estimates 70 percent of all office workers eat at their desks at least once a week. See also: deskfast. --JASON UBAY Email confusing words to hbeditorial@pacificbasin.net

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The Fort

photo courtesy DRFORTRESS

WHAT LIES BEHIND hurricane-proof doors, a security guard, an iris-recognition scanner and several password-sealed doors? Not gold or diamonds, but computer servers. Though for some Hawaii companies, the data those servers contain may be more valuable.

Welcome to The Fort, the flagship data center for DRFortress and a purposefully nondescript building located at Honolulu’s Airport Industrial Park. There, DRFortress provides companies space for their data servers in an ultra-secure environment. Explains DRFortess CFO Rosa White, “We provide the infrastructure to keep companies’ infrastructures secure.”

The Fort features state-of-the-art cooling system and a power system built with complete redundancy, meaning that anything requiring power has a backup. So in the event of a statewide blackout, stored onsite fuel can power diesel generators up to 80 hours. The Fort offers connections to all the major carriers and Internet service providers in the state, including Hawaiian Telcom and Pacific Lightnet. Customers using DRFortress include Aloha Airlines, DataHouse, Servco Pacific and Mobi PCS.
Some businesses also use DRFortress for secondary data storage. That way, if a company’s primary servers went down, it could continue to operate using data stored at The Fort by accessing its data via the Internet.

Founded in March 2006, DRFortress acquired the data center in December 2006 from multinational Equinix Inc. At the time, the data center was at 100 percent capacity, and DRFortress could not take on new customers. But with the growth of eCommerce and more technology dependent businesses in Hawaii, DRFortress was certain the market was bigger. So the company invested $16 million to expand the company, including the recent $5.8 million upgrade to the facility, nearly doubling its size from 11,800 to 21,300 square feet and adding state-of-the-art amenities.

“The expansion was necessary to meet the underserved needs of the Hawaii market,” DRFortress president Fred Rodi said in a press statement. “Staying in business today means being online and accessible all day, every day. Companies are realizing this requires boarding your servers in a purpose-built data center like The Fort.”
A place where there is certainly a lot more than water balloons and secret knocks keeping
it safe.

-Jason Ubay