An independent historical project. No current affiliation with Savvis, CenturyLink, Lumen Technologies, Intira, Terremark or Verizon.

Built Before CloudEst. 300 Baud · St. Louis

Sources

The Editorial Standard

This site is intended to be entertaining, personal and positive without turning Tim’s life into unsupported founder mythology. Every major historical claim displays one of these classifications, and the public record behind the story is linked below.

Verified Public Record

Verified Public Record

Supported by an official filing, contract, court record, authenticated corporate document or other primary source.

Contemporary Reporting

Contemporary Reporting

Supported by journalism, technical archives or trade publications created close to the event.

Founder Recollection

Founder Recollection

Tim’s personal memory that has not yet been independently verified.

Family Record

Family Record

Information supplied by Tim or his family but not yet verified through external records.

Corroborated Recollection

Corroborated Recollection

A firsthand account supported by another participant, photograph, email, agreement, calendar record or other evidence.

Disputed or Incomplete

Disputed or Incomplete

Sources conflict, key documents have not yet been found or another participant may provide a materially different account.

Direct Weblinks

The public sources currently supporting the Built Before Cloud narrative, grouped by chapter and subject.

William Munro Roberts III, Ford and Motorsports

The Autoweek source is the strongest currently available public biography of Monty Roberts’s Ford, Busch beer and Busch Clash work.

Whackoland, the W(hack)o Cracko Brothers, Metal Shop and Phrack

These links establish the chronology: Phrack launched in November 1985, Whackoland appeared in the documented timeline in February 1986, and the New TAP discussions followed.

Timothy Roberts Public SEC Biographies

These are public filings, but the biographical language was supplied by the filing companies. Use them as public records of the claims, not as independent verification of every “first” assertion.

Andrew Gladney and Savvis Origins

This source is used only for the relevant family and Savvis background. The article also discusses unrelated later legal and personal matters that are not repeated in the Built Before Cloud narrative.

Savvis Network Architecture and Performance

The Forbes and InternetNews articles are particularly useful because they document Savvis’s private-network strategy and publicly identify Apple and other early customers.

Savvis IPO and Later Acquisition

The Wired article documents the IPO figures, while CenturyLink and SEC records document the later acquisition.

Intira Founders and NetSourcing

These sources identify Tim Roberts, Mark Ivie and Rich Skoba as Intira’s original founders and describe NetSourcing as a managed environment covering servers, storage, security, networking and operations.

Intira Customer and Contract Evidence

The DoveBid agreement is one of the strongest sources because it documents NetSourcing as an actual contracted service with infrastructure responsibilities and service-level commitments.

Intira Bankruptcy and Asset Sale

These records are used instead of claiming that Intira simply became Data Return or Terremark. The documented asset history is more complicated.

Tim Roberts’s Historical Intira Data-Center Video

This is the direct video link supporting Tim’s recollection about the next-generation data-center design, electrical capacity, cooling capacity and the architecture behind the facilities. Until the original engineering drawings and calculations are published, the seven-times power-and-cooling figure is identified as a founder-supplied claim.

Modern AI Data-Center Comparison Sources

These sources provide modern technical context for power density, cooling, integrated infrastructure and cloud definitions. They do not independently verify Intira’s historical design or imply that NVIDIA endorses the comparison.

Platformz Public Links

The current Platformz site publicly describes the company as building operating systems behind modern brands and connecting portals, commerce, workflows, logistics, data and automation.

Platformz Production Proof Through FUR4

These live portals provide public proof of the multi-portal model described in the Platformz chapter.

Claims That Still Need Public Weblinks

Reliable public web sources have not yet been located for:

  • William Munro Roberts III’s exact Young & Rubicam title.
  • His precise responsibility for the Walt Disney account.
  • His exact Busch Entertainment responsibilities.
  • His management of blimp, balloon or theme-park budgets.
  • His Episcopal ordination.
  • The names of the three New York churches.
  • Graves Capital’s legal formation and investment records.
  • The Savvis founder litigation and settlement.
  • The exact Apple contract value and term.
  • The seven-times electrical and cooling calculations.
  • Intira’s blade-server and virtual-machine deployment dates.

Those sections continue using Family Record or Founder Recollection labels until the relevant records are digitized and published. If you can help, contribute to the archive.

Built Before Cloud combines public records, contemporary journalism, original documents, technical archives, interviews and Tim Roberts’s firsthand recollections. Significant claims are labeled so readers can distinguish documented history from personal memory.