Custom Visuals, LLC has been doing both on- and off-site development since 1995. Our customers include among others: TD Banknorth, Citadel Investment Group, Keller Williams Real Estate, Delta Environmental Consultants, Hewlett-Packard, Cadence Design Systems, Providian Financial, Johnson & Johnson, Globalstar, Kinkos, Datron/Transco Systems, Inc., EROS Data Center, Raytheon SBRS, University of California, San Francisco VAMC, among others.

Our computers are our livelihood, and no hardware or software gets changed on them without a good reason. That means there are no cute extensions or DLL's, no joysticks, no bleeding edge hardware. To state it bluntly, no B.S. The upside is we use software and systems that are extremely stable and very strong performers. We'll happily let someone else do the hardware and software debugging that goes along with being an early adopter. It saves us a lot of downtime, which saves everyone cost and headaches. I have worked at several locations as a UNIX, Mac and/or PC administrator, and a few other operatings systems. You can see the current stable of computers and office by viewing our Home Office.

We have made large investments in hardware and software. Some of our software packages cost several thousand dollars each, plus annual maintenance fees, while others are open source, which are often free or very modest in price. We also budget hardware upgrades to keep the systems at peak performance levels. Our small corporate intranet is networked quite nicely. All of the systems have access to each other over a wireless 802.11g router for mobile convenience.

Daily backups are run to DVD-R's for the servers and workstations. All systems have Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS) for emergency power protection. We're all aware of the use of UPS's to protect against power outages. People are often surprised to learn that many computer problems can be traced to power fluctuations such as brownouts (under-supply) and spikes (over-supply). Investing in UPS's can protect your computer investment.

An inspection of our hardware and software reveals a redundancy in all systems. No single point of failure will stop production of a project. Actually, you'll find very little can stop production around here. Two computers can manage backups. Two computers mirror the server data. Two computers mirror project data. We also have spare hardware components such as disks, printers, scanners, hubs and mice. While working through a "100 year winter" in South Dakota, I was working off of battery power (UPS for server and a separate laptop) while the company I was working for had closed down for the day. More recently, flooding had closed down another workplace for a couple days while I was working at the home office. The same place that closed to flooding, also closed to eradicate email virus problems on a couple occasions. It's worth mentioning that we have had zero virus infections at the home office, and were once again able to work through the closures.

Custom Visuals, LLC is run by Mike and Rhonda Schienle. We've been married 16 years and running our own businesses for 12 years. Rhonda is responsible for the business workings of the office such as secretarial, payroll and billing. Mike is the technical person of the office and takes care of the computer hardware, network and software.

One of the most common questions we hear is, "How can I be assured I'm getting the same quality of work when you're at the Home Office, as opposed to when you're on site?"

We don't have a sales, advertising or marketing budget beyond what you see on the web site. In other words, we're here to do an excellent job and let our clients and customers spread the word about their experience with us, such as this one from Kathy Hubbell to one of her associates:

"Here's what I recommend for fixing the web site: Mike Schienle. He's the excellent programmer who is taking over our site - he programs for a living - and you need his expertise rather than a canned, pre-formatted program."

There is no chain of command to wade through to obtain necessary equipment or upgrades. There are virtually no distractions while at home compared to a corporate office. The home office distractions are trivial in comparison to a busy office: