That’s the story of Datamax Jonesboro—not a giant corporation, but a gritty local business that survived the death of the fax machine by being willing to get very, very wet.
Using a car battery and a power inverter ripped out of a broken-down Datamax service van, Mark rigged a makeshift power supply. He then waded into waist-deep, 34-degree water holding a plastic tarp over the server rack to keep the dripping ceiling water off the electronics.
While “Datamax” in Jonesboro, Arkansas, might not be a household name like Walmart (which was founded in nearby Bentonville), the story of this specific office technology and IT solutions provider is a classic Arkansas tale of local resilience, the death of the analog world, and a surprising pivot that saved dozens of jobs. datamax jonesboro arkansas
In late January 2009, a catastrophic ice storm hit Northeast Arkansas. Jonesboro was paralyzed. Power lines snapped like twigs, trees fell on roofs, and the entire city was dark and silent for nearly two weeks. Datamax, which at the time primarily sold and serviced , saw its entire business model evaporate overnight. No power meant no office workers, and no office workers meant no broken printers to fix.
When the power finally returned, the plants were the first in Jonesboro to reopen. The rice mill’s owner later told a story at the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce: “Datamax didn’t just sell us a service contract. They froze in a lake for us.” That ice storm changed Datamax forever. Mark (who was promptly promoted) convinced the owners that selling physical boxes—copiers and fax machines—was a dying industry. The future was managed IT services . That’s the story of Datamax Jonesboro—not a giant
With the power out, the sump pump in the basement failed. The basement began to flood with freezing rainwater. The IT manager, a guy named Mark (last name omitted for privacy), realized that if that server died, those plants wouldn’t be able to restart their assembly lines for weeks.
Here is an interesting, and largely true, narrative regarding . The “Great Ice Storm of 2009” and the Basement Server The most legendary story in Datamax’s local lore doesn’t involve a sale or a CEO—it involves a frozen potato field and a flooded basement. While “Datamax” in Jonesboro, Arkansas, might not be
However, Datamax also hosted a small, forgotten server rack in the damp basement of their old building on Caraway Road. This server handled payroll and inventory for three local manufacturing plants (including a major rice mill).