Datamax Jonesboro Arkansas [exclusive] -

Today, Datamax in Jonesboro is a regional powerhouse for cybersecurity and cloud hosting. But they still keep a single, refurbished 1990s copier in their lobby as a monument to the “Ice Man of Caraway Road.” Ask any old-timer at the Jonesboro Couch’s Barbecue: “Why does Datamax answer their phones 24/7?” The answer: “Because Mark still sleeps better on a stack of paper boxes than in his own bed.”

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. datamax jonesboro arkansas

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. Today, Datamax in Jonesboro is a regional powerhouse

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). The IT manager, a guy named Mark (last

For 72 hours, Mark stayed in that freezing basement, sleeping on a stack of old printer paper boxes, keeping the battery charged by running extension cords to a diesel generator parked outside. He survived on gas station coffee and beef jerky.

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.

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.