Randy King

Current Status

• 2001 is where we currently are.  Ervin Fields and I were employees at CP&L and left there at the same time in 1996.  We each did our own separate things after CP&L until late 1997.  At Betsy Wagstaff's funeral, I asked Ervin if he was interested in starting a local computer and internet company.  He indicated he was interested and we talked about it and attended the PCC Small Business Seminars in uptown Roxboro.  
  
• In November 1997, Electronic Solutions, Inc. was officially born.  We began as a small company located in the Business Development Center in Uptown Roxboro.  We began selling computers and servicing them.  In March of 1998 we worked out an agreement with Roxboro On-line to co-brand our internet services.  This continued until December of 1999 when we purchased all of the customer base of Roxboro On-Line and all new digital equipment was installed in our Uptown office.  We moved into our present building in May of 1999 at 201 North Main Street.
  
• Roxboro On-Line, DurhamNet.com, Spectra Systems and ESInc.net is now all housed under the Electronic Solutions, Inc. banner.  We opted to install the latest all-digital equipment for our internet service to insure we could compete in the market place.  We now use Vircom RADIUS servers, Vircom Mail Server, Rodopi Internet Management, Cisco routers/switches and Lucent Terminal Servers.  We have mulitple NT servers running the latest Front Page Server and IIS software to insure our customers get the quality they deserve.  Most internet companies have a ratio of users to lines of 8 to 10 to one.  Our ratio in the 5-6 users per line which is almost twice as good as our competitors.  This reduces the chances of you getting a busy signal when dialing in.  This cost us more, but we think it is worth it to insure unlimited access.  Our backbone supplier is Sprint.  We are all digital from us to Sprint leaving the only analog (and slowest link) link the last mile from Sprint to the customer.  This is one advantage we have over other ISPs is our location within two blocks of the Sprint POS.  We offer dial up, DSL, Wireless and dedicated lines up to 10 Mbps and wireless in Uptown Roxboro. 
  
• Internet service is only a portion of our business.  We also build and service PCs.  We are a authorized IBM reseller and offer their line of servers, PCs and laptop PCs.  We also install networks and do custom programming.  We develop web pages and offer shopping carts for our customer web sites.  When it comes to computer and related fields, we are the turn-key source.
  
• We also continue to provide consulting and computer services to NASCAR teams.  We service and install computer systems, data acquistion systems, engine dyno operation and calibration, custom electronics and other racing related functions.

We believe the key to success is hard work, dedication, good people and customer service.  We are fortunate to have all those things and more.

On the personal side, I am involved in my church (Roxboro Presbyterian), Past President of the Roxboro Rotary Club, Piedmont Community College Advisory Committee, Roxboro Area Chamber of Commerce Board, Roxboro Uptown Development Corp. Board and several other part time organizations.

Bonnie and I enjoy living and playing on the lake (Hyco Lake), riding my Harley Davidson, traveling and being with friends and family.  We don't have any children other than four legged but enjoy our nieces Laura King and Wendy Hodnett.  Bonnie was the daughter of Eugene D. Hodnett of Volens, VA and we have been married since 1984.  Bonnie's dad was special and we miss him since May 1999.

We don't know what the future holds for us, none of us do, but I'm sure it will include fun, family and friends.  

Of course our family is most important.  Here we are at the beach with friends Vic and Ann Powley in August 1999.

(To be continued)

 

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Electronic Solutions, Inc.