After the collapse of the HP150 computer line, I decided to try my hand at consulting. At Litton Systems I had gained much expertise in UNIX and the Hewlett-Packard Unix (HP-UX) server line. I had also developed some good contacts at HP both from my software development venture and from dealing with the local HP sales reps for Litton.
I decided to recycle the (already-incorporated) Soft-Touch name as a consulting venture specializing in HP Unix systems. I initially got a couple of referrals from my HP sales rep, and slowly built up a few customer contracts. I don’t recall all of the company names, but Black & McDonald Electrical, and Four Seasons Hotels were two of them. There was also at least one real estate developer. I probably had only about 4-6 clients at its peak, before we decided to relocate to Chicago.
The way it worked was that I helped in some cases as these companies installed or switched to HP servers, and also was their “on-call” technical support if they had problems. I set up backup systems for them, and also helped them with communications and networking.
A very notable event was when I got a call from the head office of Four Seasons Hotels (in Toronto). They were opening their first hotel in Chicago, and their local IT guy was not too comfortable with the HP systems. An HP sales rep referred them to me. After meeting with them at the head office, they arranged to send me to Chicago to assist with configuring the system after the installation. Although it only required a couple of days onsite, I did get put up in a nice brand new Four Seasons hotel room! Afterwards I assisted the local staff by phone as required.
