ASTORIA Brothers Paul and Alan Mossman saw an opportunity when North Coast Phone & Computer closed its doors after 25 years.

Who is left thats reputable? Paul asked.

The answer was simplethe Mossman brothers.

Since 2009, Paul and Alan have been helping individuals and businesses network phones, computers, audio-visual systems and servers; repair PCs and recover lost data; and build websites. When the market opened up, the Mossman brothers decided to join forces as MossyTech LLC and open a storefront of their own on Astorias busiest stretch of road, on 8th Street between Marine and Commercial.

We dont necessarily need the space, but the visibility cant be beat, Paul said.

Paul said they started as IT consultants by lending their expertise to friends, somewhat reluctantly, but over the years theyve realized that their skills are unique on the North Coast.

Theres a lot of people out there that can do PC repair, but when it comes to something more advanced like networking servers, Alan said many companies turn to Portland-area companies for help.

Or worse yet, Paul said, People dont know they need you because they can get it to work. But wireless networks that arent set up properly can become a data security problem.

For us its more of an education for businesses. They dont know that its really not secure, Paul said.

Ultimately, our goal is to work with businesses and to help them out, Alan said. They are marketing MossyTech as an all-inclusive Outsourced IT service and hope to build up a stable clientele of businesses.

Although traffic to the storefront has been slow, Paul and Alan have noticed an uptick in business since opening their doors. Our business is still 80/20 word of mouth, but we didnt have that 20 [percent] before, Paul said.

Getting MossyTech up and running has been a family affair. Paul and Alans parents and sister have all pitched in to build out and man the storefront while the Mossman brothers work fulltime jobs.

Alan and I both work 40 hours a week, if not more, Paul said.

Paul has worked for Columbia Memorial Hospital for about six years. He manages the hospitals network as a network administrator.

Alan has been with the hospital for three years. He works in IT support.

We plan on staying there for a good while, Alan said. Self employment has its benefits, but health benefits is not one of them.

When the workload at MossyTech grows large enough, they plan to hire more help.

For more information about MossyTech, visit mossytech.com or call (503) 325-9090.