# Alaska / Alaska Artic Power servers (Mexmal Mayorista, Dinastía International)

"Alaska" was a computer brand sold in Mexico in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Its
server line was called "Alaska Artic Power." The brand belonged to Mexmal Mayorista
S.A. de C.V. and Dinastía International Corp., a computer distribution group based on
the Laredo, Texas and Monterrey, Nuevo León border. The Alaska Artic Power 2U rackmount
server was a rebadged Chenbro RM21200 chassis.

## The hardware: Alaska Artic Power 2U is a Chenbro RM21200

The 2U rackmount unit sold as the Alaska Artic Power 2U is a Chenbro RM21200, a general
purpose 2U server chassis produced by Chenbro (Taiwan) in the early 2000s.

Specifications, from the Intel chassis compatibility sheet for the RM21200 tested with
the Intel Server Board SCB2:

- Form factor: 2U rackmount, 24 x 17 x 3.5 in (610 x 430 x 88 mm)
- Drive bays: 1 external 5.25 in, 5 external 3.5 in; 4x SCSI hot swap drive option
- Cooling: 3x 80 mm fans
- Power supply: Zippy / EMACS P2G-6400P, 400 W

Chenbro's own product listings identify the model as RM212, with part numbers
RM21200-00001, RM21200-00002, and RM21211-00001.

## The Alaska brand

Dinastía and Mexmal launched the Alaska brand in 1998. Product names used a
cold weather theme: the servers were "Alaska Artic Power" and "Alpine"; desktops
included "Icy Blue," "Coastal," "Equinox," "Fortuna," "Altura," "Vidro," and "Paxson";
notebooks were "Avalanche."

Alaska computers were marketed as Intel based and Microsoft certified, and the company
described itself as ISO 9001:2000 and Microsoft WHQL certified. In company statements
to the Mexican trade press in 2002 and 2003, Alaska was described as a leading home PC
brand in Mexico. A 2011 retrospective reported sales of about $160 million for 1998 and
roughly 40 percent of the local white box market. Distribution extended across Mexico
(Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Torreón, Chihuahua, Aguascalientes, Puebla, Querétaro,
Guadalajara, and Mexico City) and into parts of Latin America (Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay,
Argentina, and Peru).

## Alaska Artic Power server models

From the dinastia.com web store, recovered from the Internet Archive:

- Alaska Artic Power 2000/500: 500 MHz Pentium III (dual capable), 128 MB PC-100, 20 GB IDE. Listed at $1,949.99 (2000).
- Alaska Artic Power 2000/550: 550 MHz Pentium III, dual Ultra Wide SCSI. Listed at $2,409.99 (2000).
- Alaska Artic Power 2000/600: 600 MHz Pentium III, 256 MB, dual Ultra Wide SCSI. Listed at $3,399.99 (2000).
- Alaska Artic Power 3500/600: 600 MHz AMD Athlon, 128 MB PC-100, 20 GB. Listed at $1,639.99 (2003).

A Mexmal and Intel training document lists the Intel server platforms behind the line,
including NP-ISP1100 (1U), NP-ISP2150 (2U), and NP-ISP4400, with boards MB-ISTL2 and
MB-ISBT2.

## The company

- Dinastía International Corp. (Laredo, Texas): the United States arm, which handled purchasing and assembly.
- Mexmal Mayorista S.A. de C.V. (Monterrey, Nuevo León): the Mexican distribution arm, and the owner of the Alaska brand in later records.
- CNet / C-Net: a networking products arm. Dinastía acquired C-Net, a Taiwanese maker of network devices.

The founders were Patrick Wong and Alfredo Flores, and the business began around 1990.
Dinastía's reported sales grew from about $1 million in 1990 to about $81 million in
1996. In 1997 the Laredo Morning Times named Wong and Flores Small Business Persons of
the Year. The group operated a large superstore on Calton Road in Laredo and
distribution centers in Mexico.

## The collapse

The group ran into financial trouble in the early 2000s. On June 27, 2003 the
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, lent
Mexmal Mayorista $10 million.

On March 10, 2005 the United States Dinastía entities (Dinastía L.P., Dinastía
International Corp., Dinamex Inc., and Patal Investments) filed Chapter 11 in the United
States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (In re Dinastia, L.P., No.
05-33650). Mexmal Mayorista entered a concurso mercantil, a Mexican commercial
bankruptcy proceeding, in Monterrey.

The Mexmal concurso became a liquidation on August 30, 2006. ASI Computer Technologies
acquired the IFC debt and the assets. Other companies and parties named in the records
include International Bank of Commerce (IBC), GulfStar Group, and the holding entities
Mexmal Group, Ltd. and Mexmal Group Management, LLC.

## Litigation

- Enterasys Networks, Inc. v. Mexmal Mayorista, S.A. de C.V. (In re Dinastia, L.P.), 381 B.R. 512 (S.D. Tex. 2007). Enterasys sought to recover $684,349 owed for networking equipment. The court dismissed the claims against the IFC on immunity grounds.
- Flores v. ASI Computer Technologies, Inc., Civil Action L-06-135 (S.D. Tex. 2010). A dispute between Wong and Flores and ASI over a 2005 transfer agreement and Mexican tax liabilities. The court denied ASI's motion for summary judgment.