HomeMy WebLinkAbout09 AUTH TO PURCH STORAGE AREA EQUIP 09-01-09Agenda Item 9
Reviewed:
AGENDA REPORT ,City Manage
11j5~~
Finance Director
MEETING DATE: SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
TO: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER
FROM: PAMELA ARENDS-KING, FINANCE DIRECTOR
SUBJECT: AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE STORAGE AREA NETWORK EQUIPMENT
SUMMARY:
Authorize the purchase of two (2) HP LeftHand P4000 storage area network appliances (SANs)
for deployment in the City Hall and Police Department data centers.
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended City Council approve the purchase of two (2) HP LeftHand P4000 SANs from
Synegi.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The cost of the SAN equipment is $98,863. In conjunction with the City's virtualization initiative,
purchasing the SANs will result in significantly lower Information Technology (IT) expenditures
over the next three to five years due to the reduction in need to purchase additional computer
servers and the associated storage in each server. There are adequate funds in the Information
Technology Division's computer hardware fund to cover the cost of the SANs.
BACKGROUND:
The City's data storage needs continue to grow year after year. Documents are added to the
City's computer fileservers and document archive system on a daily basis. It is anticipated that
video storage needs will grow quickly once the Police Department selects an in-car video
solution to replace the existing system. Purchasing a SAN will mitigate many of the issues
associated with storing this information as well as provide additional benefits to the City.
Typically, storage is purchased as a component of a computer server and is known as direct-
attached storage (DAS). DAS is not an efficient use of storage as only the server of which it is a
part can access the available space. Once the available space is exhausted, it can be
problematic to add additional storage to the server; for example, the server may not have
physical space to add storage devices. A SAN presents a pool of storage available
Authorization to Purchase Storage Area Network Equipment
September 1, 2009
to all of the City's servers, allowing IT staff to assign the appropriate amount of storage to each
server and to expand or contract storage as needed on each server. Eventually, when
additional storage is needed in the SAN, it is a simple process to add storage which is then
available to all City servers.
An additional advantage of purchasing SANs is the ability to replicate data from the City Hall
data center to the Police Department data center and vice versa. This would ensure, in the
event of an equipment failure, that the data is still available to end users and would allow
business continuity within the City.
As part of the normal purchasing process, we contacted a number of local dealers in the area
and received the following bids for identical SANs, including 24 hour-a-day, seven days-a-week,
four hour response time support. We are recommending purchasing the SANs through Synegi
as they offer the best pricing on the product.
VENDOR
Synegi
CDWG
Insight
PAMELA ARENDS-KING
Director of Finance
COST
$98, 863
$130,634
$158,328
JON
Information Technology Supervisor