Scale Computing, headquartered in the Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis, is a developer and manufacturing of complete, end-to-end midmarket clustered storage solutions. Leonard-McDowell, headquartered in Zionsville, Ind., is a provider of sales and IT solutions. Under the agreement, Scale Computing will provide the City of Terre Haute with two (2) 16 TB clusters that will complete the development of the city’s private cloud computing infrastructure.
Brad Speidel, Director of Information Technology for the City of Terre Haute, said choosing the right IT storage system involved determining the current and future storage needs of the city and need how best to integrate that storage into the city’s planned resilient computer network.
"Terre Haute is one of the largest cities in Indiana, and we have simply outgrown our existing storage area network," Speidel said. “This presents several challenges including how to cost effectively meet our present and future storage needs and integrating the storage into our growing cloud computing environment. Additionally, we continue to update our emergency preparedness plan and having the ability to recover from an unplanned emergency is of vital interest to the citizens of Terre Haute. It can be difficult to make effective changes if you don’t have a large budget to cover the costs of a single, major overhaul."
Speidel added that the city's IT storage needs are growing at about 18 percent annually and that Mayor Duke Bennett listed an improved IT system as a top priority after the city experienced massive flooding in June 2008.
"The flooding, as with any threat of a natural disaster, re-emphasized that we needed a strong IT infrastructure in order to maintain critical functions at our two data centers," Bennett said. "After we determined what we needed, we sent out a RFP to solicit bids. We reviewed submissions and investigated options, and our decision to go with Scale Computing came down to customer service, price and performance."
The Mayor went on to say, “Being able to purchase the right equipment from an Indiana-based company is always a good thing. Finding out that the company was started by local Rose-Hulman and Indiana State University graduates made us feel even better about the decision we had made.”
"The City of Terre Haute is an ideal customer for Scale,” said Jeff Ready, CEO and Co-founder of Scale Computing. “They need a high-performance, reliable and affordable storage solution that allows them to grow capacity as they need it. Our third generation storage enables our customers to reduce storage costs, increase control, and make storage more convenient to manage – which is exactly what the City of Terre Haute, and many other organizations, are looking for."
Speidel said the assistance of Frank Leonard, managing partner of Leonard-McDowell, provided guidance on the final decision. Leonard-McDowell is a reseller for Scale Computing IT products and other IT services.
"IT departments must consider budgets and customer service when choosing an IT vendor, as each organization has unique requirements to fit their specific needs," Leonard said. "My firm works closely with Indiana municipalities, companies, organizations and institutions to help them find the best products to help them meet their IT goals."
Sources:
Brad Speidel, 812-244-2316, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jeff Ready, 317-856-9959, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Frank Leonard, 317-873-4632, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Contacts:
Cynthia Sequin, 765-588-3340, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Heidi Monroe Kroft, 317-735-3371 Ext. 4043, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Related Web sites:
City of Terre Haute: www.terrehaute.in.gov/
Scale Computing Inc.: www.scalecomputing.com
Leonard-McDowell LLC: www.leonard-mcdowell.com
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
