At the end of every hard drive is a welcoming mother board

WASILLA — Bryan Earl and Josh Hobert are exploring the electronic frontier of Alaska.

Earl and Hobert are co-owners of Epic Computer Source of Wasilla, a store that provides everything from computer tune-ups to custom gaming computers with experts on call 24 hours a day.

“We offer services that nobody else can or wants to offer,” Earl said. “And we take pride in our work.”

Although the owners opened the business six months ago after receiving a $60,000 business loan, they’ve spent years preparing to open a business. Both attended Matanuska-Susitna College where they received A+ certification and earned the designation of being Microsoft Certified Professionals.

“We’ve been doing this stuff ever since we were able to type on a keyboard,” Earl said about his passion for computers. “It was only a matter of time before we got something going.”

Along with $99 tune-ups and custom-built computers, Epic Computer Source provides Wasilla businesses and residents with web design, computer aided design systems and internal computer cleaning, Earl said. The most popular service is free spyware and virus protection.

Although Wasilla residents could go to big box stores to receive some of the same services, business keeps getting better for Epic Computer, Hobert said.

“Every month we’ve doubled our number of customers,” he said.

The computer store has a variety of services and products that appeal to a wide range of customers, but the duo also provides specialty services like computer forensics, Earl said.

Computer forensics is highly technical science in which specialists plug into layers of computer memory that many people don’t understand, Earl said. Many times, law enforcement agencies will use computer forensics to investigate possible crimes, retrieving previously thought unretrievable information. Although this service isn’t marketed toward the average customer, it can be extremely helpful for police investigations. Many believe computer files disappear when they empty the “trash” on their machines, but Earl and Hobert know better. Using thousands of dollars worth of equipment and years of schooling the talented pair can recover incriminating data, find date and time stamps and even decipher passwords.

“It’s amazing what you can learn from a computer,” Earl said.

Not only do Earl and Hobert own Epic Computer Source, they also own Epic Studios, a recording studio that caters to local up and coming musicians, Earl said. When finished at the store for the day, the pair push away the keyboard and pick up their instruments to hone their skills as musicians in the band Theory of Hate.

To find more information about Epic Computer Source visit www.epiccomputersource.com or call 357-2667.

Contact Chris Gillow at 352-2284 or chris.gillow@frontiersman.com.