Presenter/Contact
Presenter
Travis Cochrane, Director of Information Technology
Contact Info
(830) 221-4339 - tcochrane@nbtexas.org
Subject Header
SUBJECT:
Title
Approval of a purchase with Dell for technology equipment and supplies through the State of Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) Contract.
Body
BACKGROUND / RATIONALE:
Currently the City’s Information Technology (IT) Department operates two data centers supporting 81 virtual servers and 25 physical servers. Staff utilizes the virtual server infrastructure to provide reliable and cost-effective services for the needs of the city. The virtual servers support traditional city operations such as email, file storage, financial software, human resources software and public safety in-car and body camera video processing. In addition to these traditional internal systems, the virtual servers support public applications including Accela, our permitting and land management software, RecTrac, our Parks and Recreation management software, and our GIS mapping applications. The original virtual server infrastructure was purchased in April 2012 and is past its life expectancy. The second virtual server infrastructure was purchased in 2014 and its resources are currently at capacity. With the number critical systems that run on the virtual platforms, a proactive approach was taken to finda replacement system.
In January 2017, city staff began the process of researching new technologies that would meet specific goals for updating our virtual server systems:
1. Provide redundancy to keep critical systems available
2. Allow for updates throughout the day without impact to operations
3. Standardize the virtual infrastructure onto a single platform
4. Increase backup retention storage
After reviewing a myriad of options available, staff has determined that utilizing server hardware from Dell Technologies coupled with virtualization software from VMWare and backup software through Quest provides the City with the best overall solution.
The solution will provide new host servers at both data center locations. Our primary data center will have the capability to go fully offline and migrate, in real time, all systems to the secondary data center. Users of these technology systems will be unaware and unimpacted by this type of transition. Similarly, the servers at the secondary site can live migrate to the primary site without impacting our users. This redundancy is critical to continuity of municipal operations.
Additionally, we will add new backup software that will enhance our current backup capabilities increasing the time we store our backups by over 300% and will shorten the amount of time it takes to recover lost or deleted files.
The total price for this purchase is $775,000. Staff has developed a financing strategy that minimizes the impact to the equipment replacement fund through a 2.1% capital financing agreement with Dell.
ADDRESSES A NEED/ISSUE IN A CITY PLAN OR COUNCIL PRIORITY:
Yes, Strategic Priorities: Maintain an ongoing program for improving customer service, Use a variety of funding sources for operational and capital needs
FISCAL IMPACT:
The FY 2017-18 Equipment Replacement Fund allocated $200,000 for technology related replacements. We will utilize $175,000 to fund the first-year finance payment. The remaining annual payments over four years will need to be incorporated into the FY 2018-19 Budget for the Equipment Replacement Fund.
Recommendation
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of a purchase from Dell for network equipment through a State of Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) contract in an amount not to exceed $775,000, financed over a four-year period at 0% through Dell Technologies