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Interview with Cole Dudley of CaseETC and Cole3D
Date : Saturday, 25 November 2000 Author : Fiber Provided by : n/a Page : 1

Fiber - Tell us a little bit about yourself

Cole - My name is Cole Dudley and I reside in a rural western Indiana town by the name of Covington. Covington has a population of around 2,000 people, most of which work in some field of agriculture. It's a small town, where everybody knows everybody and overall is an enjoyable place to live in. There isn't a lot recreation wise, other than a decent golf course. In my spare time (spare time? Heh, yeah right) I love to play baseball, go to drag races, or chill in front of the tube with some friends.

Fiber - What is your favorite baseball team?

Cole - The Cubs. I have always been a Cubs fan, and my favorite Cubs player would be the best second-basemen since the 1940's - Ryne Sandburg. Being a Cubs fan is frustrating. The owners of the Cubs refuse to invest any money in new star players, just as long as they fill the seats. Oh well, the Cubs are always fun to watch, and Wrigley is a hell of a field to spend a Saturday at.

Fiber - What type of music do you listen to?

Cole - I love music. I'm listening to it pretty much the entire time I'm in front of this screen. As for types of music I like, about anything except country. In my Musicmatch playlist, you can find anything from Rob Zombie to Madonna to N.W.A. So basically rap, alternative, metal, hard rock, oldies, and a little bit of pop/rock mixed in. Some of my favorite artists include: Green Day, TooL, NiN, DMX, Dre, Deftones, Tom Petty..there are plenty of others, but those are the ones that come to mind.

Fiber - What made you start CaseETC?

Cole - I have always been a regular at the Hard|OCP case mod forum, where this idea originated. I posted a thread showing pictures of my Supermicro SC-750A fully modded, and I guess the people there liked what they saw. At first, people were going to send me cases, or buy one from my stock, and I would do the mods to the case, etc. After thinking about it, I decided that I did not have enough time to invest to modify people's cases. The idea to just sell the parts and give direction to perform these modifications appealed to the people at the forum. With the forum helping, we made a list of products to carry. It went on from there to making an actual online store.

Fiber - What made you think of the name "CaseETC"?

Cole - An acquaintance of mine is a marketing teacher at a local college, she thought of it and the name just stuck. Plus, it wouldn't be hard to modify the Cole3D design to work with CaseETC ;)

Fiber - Did it take more time, effort, etc. to start CaseETC than initially thought?

Cole - Yes! There was so much extra stuff that I never dreamed I would have to mess with. Not just extra expenses, but things like meeting with lawyers, license officers, online transaction representatives, etc. The weirdest thing I had to deal with was the Private Investigator sent by Verisign.

Fiber - How long did it take to get the store up and running?

Cole - About three months in all. The first month consisted of buying products, legal stuff, and a bunch of organization. The second month, I opened a "temporary store" with the help of Geoff and Doug from the Hard|OCP forum that catered to just the members of the forum. This allowed me to get started, and see what would sell and what wouldn't. It also gave me a chance to learn first hand how to conduct the business, and what it would take to keep it going. We ended up launching the "real" store on September 12, 2000.

Fiber - How do you know what people want/need?

Cole - I am a regular at the Hard|OCP case forum, and keep in touch with customers through email, the forum, and ICQ. Most of my more recent products have not been by demand, but were products that I initially wanted to stock, but they have just become available to me. Here are some pictures of the bunker in which CaseETC is located. I run this business out of the basement of my house. Since none of my stock takes up much room, I have more than enough area to stock my products - thanks to shelves, of course. There are some pictures of the shelves, my workbench, and my RAIST setup (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Stackable Trays).

  
  
Click images to enlarge (800 X 600)

Fiber - Do you have plans for a "case mod desk"?

Cole - Not really a desk, but a workbench. I built the workbench that is down there now out of assorted 2x4's and Masonite. I had plans for one, but the cost would run me about $700 of materials, plus about 30-40 hours of work, so it will have to wait.

Fiber - What does it take to keep CaseETC going?

Cole - Time, organization, and the ability to function without sleep. Time seems to be the hardest factor of the store. I manage, but don't have time to "sit back and relax" too often. I usually take Sundays off from working with the store and from Monday to Saturday I usually spend around nine to ten hours a day working on something store-related.

Fiber - Where do you see the Future of CaseETC?

Cole - I think in the next few months, we plan to release many new products, some of which aren’t on the market yet. We will also keep upgrading our current stock to offer as many options as possible. I like to devote as much time as possible to Researching and Developing new products, and writing for the site. So, I guess you can look forward to some new innovative products, as well as original write-ups. As for the store itself, I don’t plan on retiring on this business. It is run out of my home, and I honestly do not know how long I plan to run the store. I definitely plan to run it as long as it stays successful, and as long as it stays fun. So far, I’m still having a blast. On occasion, there are a couple disgruntled customers but we always get things worked out. It’s really cool working hand in hand with the actual people that you are supplying the goods to, and hearing their honest feedback, and how things can be improved. I love that part of the business.

Fiber - Where do you feel that the future of case mods is going?

Cole - In my opinion, there are two types of case mods. There are the modifications you make to make your case run COOLER and more EFFICIENT; such as blowholes, rounded cables, intake fans, fanbuses, and baybuses. Then you have the mods that are just for show, and serve no purpose to how your system functions like windows, neon lights, carvings, painting, etc. I think the future mods will be not much more than just more elaborate versions of what we are doing now. But, I see people getting more and more interested into the electronics of the system, so I think we will see some advanced Baybus systems using different types of options instead of switches and rheostats.

Fiber - Do you have any things you want to "release". Like future ideas for CaseETC, and product expanding?

Cole - I generally keep all new product ideas and stuff to myself. But, if you are a member of the HardOCP forum, chances are you have a good idea of what I am working on most of the time. There are a few projects that are in the works, but one that many know of is the retailing of Stiltner’s Aluminum Case. Many thought of it as "Vaporware", but Matt (Stiltner) posted pictures last Tuesday of the first prototype. I think you guys will be in for a big surprise when you see the final pictures of one of the cases anodized plus a nice buffing and polishing. The case has been designed for overclockers, by overclockers (kind of like the case version of FUBU ;). Many will ask about the ETA for the case after reading this. Right now, were’ looking at the end of December for the first stages of shipping the cases. We really wanted to hit the mark for Christmas, but it is out of our control.

Fiber - What's one thing you've learned from doing CaseETC?

Cole - One thing? Probably the biggest thing is learning to take everything into account and keep the records organized. I had to implement everything into Quickbooks Pro a month or so into the business. If I had gotten this taken care of before hand, life would have been much easier. I’ve learned a lot of things, but I think my organizational skills have been improved the most.

Fiber - How many computers do you have?

Cole - 3

Fiber - Are they networked?

Cole - Yes, I have a net card in each machine, all running into a Modem Router connected to the phone line. In this part of the country, we don’t have any other options better than 56K. So it’s everything is analog around here.

Fiber - What are the specs of them?

Cole -

My main gaming rig:

My business rig:

The "other" rig.

Fiber - What cases did you choose and why?

Cole -

Chenbro Genie: It has a large hard drive rack with built-in exhaust. Room for dual 120mm Intakes. Wider than most cases. I like the front door on it...no idea why; it’s just cool. Drive rails are nice. Also has a nice 120mm Exhaust on it. Not to mention it’s built like a rock. Very nice case all together.

Supermicro SC-750A: It got good reviews, came with a 300W Sparkle, and had plenty of room to work with. This was a really fun case to mod; the only problem is that the steel is really thick on the doors, and pretty much anywhere else on the case.

In-Win A500: I needed something small and cheap. It turned out to be a pretty nice case in the end. The motherboard tray has spoiled me, and now I have almost ruined two more cases trying to make my own motherboard tray for them.

Fiber - What case mods have you done?

Cole - Definitely all the main ones: neons, rounding cables, baybuses, fanbuses, windows, plus adding accessories here and there. Recently I have gotten into doing advanced types of circuits for certain things; those always end up cool.

Fiber - What is your dream computer?

Cole - I have no idea. I’m partial to the machines I have now. But, I would give a kidney to have a decent connection around here.

Fiber - What is your suggestions to current case modders out there, looking to make quality results?

Cole - I suggest that you read up on what you want to do, and plan things first. Also, measurement is one of the hardest parts of modification. Check and double-check measurements before taking a power tool to your case.

Fiber - Bush or Gore?

Cole - Bush, without a doubt. Gore just seems like such a phony, not to mention he’s a democrate is his followers are liberals. I’ll save the rest for the debates on CNN and Imus.

Fiber - Boxers or Briefs?

Cole - Nothing! Hehe, if I had to choose I’d pick briefs. I’ve had some bad experiences with boxers, they just don’t feel right…

Fiber - Thongs?

Cole - No!

Ok, well the last question is a little disappointing to some people, but I think you can understand a little bit more of Cole, from CaseETC. Thanks for reading!

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