About Us
The Founder
JD Austin and Michael Anderson founded Twin Geckos Technology Services LLC in 2003. The idea of creating a business began after JD was laid off from his job after the 9/11 attack. The goal of Twin Geckos Technology Services LLC was to create a profitable win-win type of business where other businesses could save money and have complete freedom by using open technologies. It irked JD to see how businesses were being ripped off by being overcharged for shoddy services and how many services included license fees that provide no genuine support. Beyond that, the intention was for Twin Geckos to be the engine to support a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, which would eventually turn into a Social entrepreneurship that funnels money into helping people that society typically throws away.
Our Philosophy
We're a small business that offers high-quality services at affordable prices, with a personal touch. Our goal is to help you tackle the technology challenges and provide a valuable resource for your staff. We believe that for your business to be successful, it should be an integral part of your business and we have the experience to help you do that! We make working with Twin Geckos painless and affordable. We do not believe in lock-in and we will never try hold you captive like we've seen other vendors do to our customers. We know that recurring business costs are what kill small companies, so we only have them for things that absolutely matter and must exist such as server maintenance and updates. If we're not the best company to do what you need, we'll tell you immediately, and will gladly work with other vendors to minimize interruptions to your business. If our companies aren't a good fit for each other, which happens sometimes, then we'll work with another provider to help move things smoothly as much as we can.
Why We Started Down This Path
Most of the products and services we provide started out as a solution to our own problems. When we first started out, for example, we used our cell phones for our telephone contact which resulted in clients calling us in the middle of the night because they assumed they'd get some kind of phone system. Next we tried a service that gave us a phone number and had limited functionality to call other numbers after playing a voice message and the service could also accept faxes. The system just wasn't flexible enough and the monthly cost when we were first starting was a business killer. That lead JD to look for other phone system solutions that would reduce costs while adding more flexibility and resulted in implementing our first Asterisk based phone system on March 18, 2004. Once the system reached a high level of reliability we began offering Asterisk based phone systems to our clients ever since. The other servers we create were discovered similarly such as firewall servers, file servers, customer relationship management servers, website technology, and a lot more. If there is a free or almost free way to provide infrastructure to your business we can help you implement it, maintain it, and upgrade it when required.
Why the name "Twin Geckos"?
Many people ask us about the origin of our name. It began with JD's fascination with geckos. "They can walk upside down, on glass, and on just about anything. How they stalk insects with the patience and stealth of a ninja is truly fascinating to watch," says JD, "They're just amazing creatures! Even the way they stick to things is amazing. They curl and uncurl their toes; using the little hairs on their feet to stick using molecular attraction! How cool is that?! They're cute little buggers too!".
Geckos use intermolecular attractions, known as van der Waals forces, to climb walls. They take advantage of these normally weak forces by maximizing the surface area between their feet and the wall rather than sticking using any kind of adhesive like you would expect. The bottoms of gecko's feet have millions of microscopic hairs, each of which splits off into hundreds of tips just nanometres across. The increased area of contact makes the intermolecular attractions between hair and wall significant enough to support the gecko. They are amazing little creatures!
Originally Twin Geckos had two owners. The other owner, Michael Anderson, suggested the name after hearing JD talk about geckos. Since JD and Mike had a similar appearance, Twin Geckos fit nicely. With his new baby, Rowan, and other obligations, it was soon obvious that Mike didn't have the time needed to run a business. Rather than hinder Twin Geckos' progress, Mike signed over his share of the business. Today, Mike is a psychologist. In hindsight, we realize it probably isn't the best name we could have chosen, but it is at least memorable.
How did you get your logo?
The other question we often get is "how did we come up with our logo?" JD Austin drew the logo. It appears today almost exactly as we originally drew it. Originally, the black gecko had green eyes. We changed it to white because there wasn't enough contrast when viewed small enough to put on our business cards. The idea behind the logo is the yin and yang symbol, which comes from the Chinese. In the original yin-yang symbol, the outer circle represents 'everything'; the dark and light areas represent opposing forces; and the dots show that there is some other in each opposing force.
Like the original yin-yang symbol, our logo represents 'everything' too:
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We give our clients complete enterprise quality server infrastructure that can grow with their business
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We fully support everything we do
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We give our clients complete control over everything we provide
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We will never try to lock-in customers or hold them hostage
