Love of buildings, details leads to data centers

Tight security is critical in Janice

Fetzer's world. Twenty-four hour guards

monitor her workplace behind bulletproof

walls and windows, and Fetzer can't

enter the central operations without letting

a biometric hand reader scan her

palm. The reader detects not just the

shape of her hand, but also its warmth, so

evil imposters can't cut off her arm and

use it to get in.

No, Fetzer is not a top-secret government

agent.

She runs Redundant Networks, a Reno

high-tech company that provides computer

network services. The outfit hosts customers'

computer data and provides a reliable

network so they never lose information

or money from downtime.

The business is aptly named because

every critical component has a redundant

backup. The company manages two data

centers, one in Raleigh, N.C., and one in

Reno, and each has two of everything

two long-distance carriers, two local

telecommunications carriers, two electricity

sources. Security is tight so the data

flow is never disrupted and information

never falls into the wrong hands.

Inside, the data center looks like a

high-tech jail from a sci-fi paperback.

Rows of black metal cages containing

computer servers line the floor. A 30-ton

cooling unit constantly pumps in air to

keep the equipment from over-heating,

and the place hums with electronic activity

as millions of bits of information flow

in and out every second.

The company recruited Fetzer in 2001

to oversee construction of the data centers

and to get the network operating. The

board appointed her chief operating officer

the following year when the former

CEO left.

Fetzer brought a wealth of experience

in data centers and network security.

She worked for Exodus

Communications Inc. during

the high-tech heyday of the late

1990s, overseeing construction

of dozens of huge data centers

all over the world. The data

hosting industry then was

brand new, and companies such

as Exodus invented how to provide

secure backup systems.

"Janice was in the middle of

the entire Silicon Valley boom,"

says David Dehls, managing

partner of ClearVision

Consulting Group and a

Redundant Networks board

member. "To attract someone

like that to a Reno-based startup

was a real coup."

Exodus got caught in the

dot-com bomb and telecom

recession and failed financially,

along with most of its competitors.

Now new companies, such

as Redundant Networks are rising

from the industry's ashes.

Redundant positions itself as a

nimble, customer-friendly boutique

firm.

Fetzer says keys for making

the company thrive in today's

market are sticking to the business

plan, pricing services

appropriately and managing

growth. Industry pioneers such

as Exodus failed because they

tried to keep up with wild customer

demand and grew too

fast. Redundant's goal is to turn

a profit by fourth quarter 2004.

Fetzer didn't start out in

technology. After college, she

taught physical education. Then

after her four daughters were

born and she and her family

had moved to California, she

went back to work and took a

job in the facilities department

at Intel Corp. It was a big

switch from teaching school

kids to play ball, but the job fit.

"I like buildings," she says simply.

Her dad had worked in

construction, and Fetzer and

her husband had built houses.

Few women at that time

worked in facilities, but Fetzer

says the career is a natural for

women because it requires close

attention to detail and customer

service.

She went on to high-level

facilities and security jobs at

3Com, and Apple Computer,

then made the leap to Exodus.

"I went from cubicles to data

centers," she says. The new job

was a jump in complexity,

requiring the mastery of complex

mechanical systems, and in

intensity. "I never worked less

than 14 hours a day, and in 13

months, I traveled 300,000

miles. It was crazy, but it never

occurred to me not to do it."

Fetzer had never thought

she would leave the Bay Area,

but the challenge of helping

start up Redundant Networks

beckoned. Now, she says, she

loves living here, and she's

excited about the region's

future. She and Judi Gardner,

senior manager for worldwide

operations at Cisco Systems in

Reno, started an economic

development group to address

how to create a ripe environment

for technology companies

to locate and thrive here. The

Technology Action Group

started as an informal effort,

and has since grown to about

80 members. The key word in

the group name is "action"

Gardner says, which is really

what Fetzer is all about. "With

Janice it's about making things

happen."

Dehls, also a member of the

group, says Fetzer has both

drive and vision. "This area is

much better off with her."