About us / Memory Lane

Eugene Boyle, Ken Hollinger, Michael Durrant and Marcel Ray started CyberSprockets HardDrive Shop in 1997. Ken was the instigator and brought us all together under our original ‘Idaho.Biz’ moniker.

Overall, Ken Hollinger, formally of Micron Technology, had the greatest all around IT knowledge and skill. He was always the first to get pumped up about the latest and greatest hardware and software. Ken had all the certifications and credentials so he was the de facto CEO. Ken has since moved on to greener pastures and is now working for telecommunications firm out east.

 

 

Michael Durrant was (and still is) our programming wizard. To watch Mike program is truly a sight to behold. He can be listening to an iPod, talking on the phone, and still typing faster than most people can speak. After 9-11, Mike worked for the New York Port Authority restoring IT Resources. Mike is back in the Treasure Valley and currently works for a programming company in Eagle. Mike is fluent in Windows, MAC, and all forms of UNIX/LINUX. The delay between Mike not knowing the answer to an IT issue and having a number of possible resolutions cannot be easily measured in our current time/space continuum.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                       

 

Marcel Ray: graphics designer extraordinaire.

 

We continue to use the designs he came up with back in ’97 simply because they are that good. Marcel was still a college young’n when he started with us and we couldn’t keep him down on the farm once he graduated. When you see website or logo out on the web that just resonates with you, there’s a good chance it was Master Marcel’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eugene Boyle (yours truly) was a hardheaded hardware tech. When I first met Ken, my kids knew more about our home PC then I did. Under his tutelage and that of another geek, Marshal Fawcett, I developed a love (my wife would say ‘Obsession’) for hardware. It was amazing to me that a device that I could put together with my own hands could have the capacity to do all that a personal computer can. It all just made sense to me. Computers were easier to understand than, for instance, women.

CyberSprockets was headquartered Meridian, Idaho; but we now have our business office at 1121 N Cole Rd. in Boise. Additionally we have our parts warehouse out near the Boise Airport. Mike and Eugene still collaborate on projects and once in a great while we find Ken on-line and solicit his participation in our various projects. Our main focus is Small-To-Medium Business (SMB), Small Office/Home Office (SoHo), and Individual / Residential Informational Technical Support of all flavors. What started out as building “White Boxes” or generic desktop computers and designing $250 websites has turned into a full-fledged IT/VAR (Value Added Reseller) Enterprise. In addition to the basics: troubleshooting PC’s, Servers, Laptops, Networks and Printers; we now have a number of commercial and residential clients who count on CyberSprockets for Network Services (design, installation and administration.), Database Programming and Maintenance, Internet and Wireless Connectivity (including VPN), Website Services (design, hosting, and administration) and installing, programming, or fixing just about any other device that plugs in or has an LED. If you can’t program the flashing light on your VCR then…well, actually it’s time to at least buy a DVD Player if not a complete XP Home Media System. Finally, CyberSprockets sells hardware (and some software). We originally sold locally in Boise and the surrounding Treasure Valley, but time and pack-rat tendencies saw our supply of hardware grow. We acquired the contents of Carl Kidwell’s SurePlus warehouse when he closed up shop in 2000 and began marketing our computer parts on-line using eBay as our main venue. We have since branched out to helping others sell on eBay by either selling for them or helping them set up their own eBay account, web page, and / or merchant account. You can see our eBay profile by going to eBay and looking up BaySalers; or going to BaySalers.com. Ya never know what might catch our fancy. We are currently looking into doing “Smart Homes” either going in at initial construction or retro fitting homes to be controlled entirely from a home server and low voltage wire. Done right, a home owner would be able to access their music, pics, movies, and data from anywhere in the house and, indeed, anywhere in the world.