The Information Technology Department is requesting authorization to purchase replacement computer equipment as part of this year’s technology replacement program. A policy exists that provides a funding source and guidelines for the replacement of obsolete technology equipment to minimize cost, and to provide effective and dependable equipment. An evaluation of all equipment has been made and this request represents items that have exceeded their useful life or are no longer providing reliable service. 

This agenda request is to purchase replacement server equipment for FY18 in the amount of $297,000 for: 

(5) Dell R740XD Power Edge Rack Mount Servers (PROD Site), including two processors, memory, hard drive controllers, management ports, and a full complement of hard drives. They also include two additional network cards and three years of warranty totaling $228,001.65.

(4) Dell R740XD Power Edge Rack Mount Servers (DR Site) including two processors, memory, hard drive controllers, management ports, and a full complement of hard drives. They also include two additional network cards and three years of warranty totaling $79,589.64.

Additional discount included for bundled purchase is $10,591.29.

The Information Technology department is using the Technology replacement server funds to purchase Dell Servers from Unique Digital, Inc. with vSAN Ready Nodes. Traditionally a data center would use a device called a Storage Area Network (SAN) and the system would be separate in a physical sense, however, these servers will do this virtually. The City of Sugar Land would be purchasing upgraded technology that provides data storage called HyperConverged Infrastructure (HCI). HCI involves a preconfigured package of software and hardware in a single system to simplify management. These nine Dell server packages represent storage nodes that provide virtual machines and data replication on the same hardware. This allows data to be securely replicated to a disaster recovery site. The HyperConverged Infrastructure allows for better management of the storage, cheaper cost of storage and superior overall performance.

All equipment will be purchased from Unique Digital, Inc. under the cooperative contract of the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), contract # DIR-TSO-3763.  Funds for this purchase are budgeted in the Technology Replacement Fund (023-1125-720-60-01).  Staff recommends the purchase of this replacement equipment.