While most of the American East Coast was settled in for a quiet Christmas Eve last month, Jimene Conn, Marketing Manager for TriPoint Global's VertexRSI business in Duluth, Ga. was working a late-night international call from ESS (Econet Satellite Services, Ltd.) in England. The caller, using TriPoint Global's after-hours Customer Support line, was Les Cullen Technical Director for ESS, who was trying to determine what had gone wrong with the Satellite Gateway in Lagos, Nigeria. Ms. Conn, who oversees the Customer Support line, put Mr. Cullen in touch with the VertexRSI Satellite Systems team that night. VertexRSI engineer Jack Ehrmann was dispatched to Lagos to fix the problem on site. The following testimonial letter from Mr. Cullen at ESS provides the details:

My Dear Friends,
I would like to start by wishing you all the very best for 2003 from all of us at ESS.

I would like to give you feedback as seen by a client, in this case ESS.

On December 23rd at about 11pm I went to my PC and noticed that the voIP gateway in Lagos was down

I got to Bookman's [satellite ground station facility] really quick to check everything was OK on our side. It was. It was then ascertained that the problem was on the Lagos side.

I got onto the Internet and looked up the TriPoint Global Website and found an after hours support line (which was in the middle of the night for Vertex personnel).

I called this number and was helped by a very capable and courteous lady [Jimene Conn, Marketing Manager for VertexRSI] who knew exactly how to direct my call.

Bearing in mind that this all occurred at the worst possible time of the year from anyone's perspective....... the Vertex reaction was very impressive.
Paul Bogert, Majid [Ghanouni] and the whole team in general were most supportive.

To find an engineer [Jack Ehrmann] willing to travel to Lagos at short notice this time of the year, to get his visa and dispatch him in such a short time was equally impressive.

My Dear friends, thanks a ton to all of you.
Thanks too for the concern of people like Brad Majeres who phoned me personally to express his concern.

I am now convinced more than ever that we chose the right partners in Vertex.

I shudder to think what would have happened had we signed up with one of your competitors.

You have an awesome team !!
Keep doing it right and you cannot go wrong.
A very grateful,

Les Cullen (technical director)
Econet Satellite Services Ltd

Ray Heaton, Vice President and General Manager of TriPoint Global's VertexRSI Satellite Systems business, said, "This letter underscores the success of our efforts to make TriPoint Global's Customer Support the benchmark for global satellite communications. The quick response during the holidays has helped TriPoint Global strengthen its position in the global competitive arena. The Duluth team is well deserving of our Company's thanks."