We had just sat down for a meeting when we heard a loud crash. The lights went out. The power flickered on briefly, but was followed by another bang, and we were left in the dark again.

We went outside to see what had happened. It looked like a power line was down, and a couple of transformers had exploded. After we called the fire department, I went downstairs to our operations room. I was sure our TSR's had heard those explosions, and I wanted to let them know what was going on.

I came into the operations room, and everything was as I expected. There was no panic or chaos. All our “Hastings Humans” were busy handling our clients’ calls as if nothing had happened. That's because, well, nothing did happen.

Let me explain.

Years ago, we installed a large uninterruptable power supply (UPS), anticipating an event like the one today. All our critical systems are tied into the UPS, and actually run from it 24-hours a day. The power we get from Austin Energy continually recharges the batteries. That's right, we're running on battery power all day, every day. That means when the power goes out, there's no blip, no switch to flip. We answer our clients calls as if nothing happened.

But we can run on battery power alone for only about 30 minutes. So what happens when the power stays off for longer than that (like today)?

In case of extended outages, we have a gas generator to provide additional power. Our automated systems detect a power outage instantly, and the generator kicks in on its own within seconds. The electricity from the generator power the UPS batteries, and the UPS batteries power our critical systems.

Our clients choose Hastings partly because they know us as a robust, dependable partner. We've offered our services 24-hours a day since November of 1948. That means we will do everything we can to ensure that even unexpected events - like today's - don't interrupt the service we provide to you.

The lights just came back on in my office. Back to work now, as if nothing happened.