(Frankfort, KY) DMD Data Systems, Inc. is proud to announce and welcome the addition of Keith Stevenson to the services team. As a senior systems architect, Stevenson is responsible for solution design, systems integration, and technology consulting. His industry focus includes state and local government, higher education, and healthcare. Stevenson has over 14 years experience in systems architecture and design, specializing primarily on virtual infrastructure and storage.

Keith Stevenson earned his degree in Japanese Studies from Kansai Gaikokugo Daigaku in Hirakata, Japan. An active member of his community, Keith serves as a member of the Jefferson County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and as an emergency communications officer with Kentucky Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES). “We are excited to welcome Keith to our team. He brings a wealth of technical knowledge that in turn will help our sales representatives deliver quality products and customer satisfaction. This is an exciting time for DMD as we continue to grow our company and surround ourselves with the best qualified individuals,” said Dave Sevigny, president.

Companies that would like to learn more about DMD Data System’s technology solutions should schedule an appointment with any DMD Data Systems representative at dmd@dmddatasystems.com.

###

Founded in 1996 in Lexington by IBM experts, DMD Data Systems, Inc. (DMD) deploys and supports hardware, software, and middleware solutions using technology products such as IBM and Oracle®. They focus on developing solutions that meet clients' business needs and budget requirements out of offices in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. By helping their clients effectively manage their short-term hardware investments, DMD minimizes total cost of ownership and maximizes return on investment. In 2007, DMD was awarded the “Top 5000 Fastest Growing U.S. Companies” by Inc. magazine and plans to increase the number of new employees by 40% in 2009.

With a large percentage of our state and local government clients being located in Frankfort, we are pleased to be a more central and convenient location for our clients – and under one roof. We’re excited to further cultivate a team oriented environment and maintain our high level of responsiveness to our clients,” said Dave Sevigny, president.

DMD has completed a flawless transition to its new office location. All existing telephone and fax numbers have been forwarded to the Frankfort location, and computer systems and electronic communication will not be affected.

Companies that would like to learn more about DMD Data System’s technology solutions should schedule an appointment with any DMD Data Systems representative at dmd@dmddatasystems.com.

###

Founded in 1996 in Lexington by IBM experts, DMD Data Systems, Inc. (DMD) deploys and supports hardware, software, and middleware solutions using technology products such as IBM and Oracle. They focus on developing solutions that meet clients' business needs and budget requirements out of offices in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. By helping their clients effectively manage their short-term hardware investments, DMD minimizes total cost of ownership and maximizes return on investment. In 2007, DMD was awarded the “Top 5000 Fastest Growing U.S. Companies” by Inc. magazine and plans to increase the number of new employees by 40% in 2009.

Robert C. DeMarzo, senior vice president and editorial director for Everything Channel editorial, said, “The companies that are included on the Fast Growth 100 are channel industry leaders. They offer business-oriented IT consulting and work closely with their customers to integrate multi-vendor IT solutions as well as cutting-edge technologies. In addition, they understand the importance of strong sales philosophies. We congratulate DMD Data Systems on their well-earned success.”

The Fast Growth 100 has an average two-year revenue growth (‘06-’08) of 87 percent, and average annual sales of products and services of $198.2 million. To be eligible for the 2009 Fast Growth 100, companies must be an IT solution provider; be based in the U.S.; have had net sales of at least $1,000,000 in calendar year 2006; and be an independent company.

The Fast Growth 100 rank is based on two years’ growth of net sales from calendar year 2006 to calendar year 2008. Net sales were verified by public filings when possible. All private companies provided a signed affidavit attesting to the accuracy of the reported 2006 and 2008 net sales figures or accountant-reviewed financials or audited financials. Affidavits were signed by an owner or officer of the company or by a CPA representing the company. Affidavits and financials are on file in Manhasset, NY.

###

Founded in 1996 in Lexington by IBM experts, DMD Data Systems, Inc. (DMD) deploys and supports hardware, software, and middleware solutions using technology products such as IBM and Oracle®. They focus on developing solutions that meet clients' business needs and budget requirements out of offices in Frankfort, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. By helping their clients effectively manage their short-term hardware investments, DMD minimizes total cost of ownership and maximizes return on investment.

“Being the sole provider of an innovation center for Kentucky signifies our continued commitment to the Central KY area by providing a best-of-breed technology sandbox for the community. It is our hope that this quarter-million dollar investment will help to strengthen our partnership with our clients by providing an environment to test cutting-edge products and learn how to use them.” said Dave Sevigny, president.

Companies that would like to test IBM hardware or software product solutions at the innovation center should schedule an appointment by clicking here.

###

Founded in 1996 in Lexington by IBM experts, DMD Data Systems, Inc. (DMD) deploys and supports hardware, software, and middleware solutions using technology products such as IBM and Oracle®. They focus on developing solutions that meet clients' business needs and budget requirements out of offices in Frankfort, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. By helping their clients effectively manage their short-term hardware investments, DMD minimizes total cost of ownership and maximizes return on investment.

“We are extremely proud of Micah, Miles, and Brooke. The level and difficulty of sales training and certifications they have received surpasses industry standards. Not only have they met our program requirements, Micah, Miles, and Brooke are a real asset to our senior sales representatives – assisting with client relationships and daily business needs. Since the economic downturn our workforce has increased by 40%, further establishing our commitment to the local economy and expertise as the sole provider of IBM storage hardware, IBM FileNet, and Oracle with the Commonwealth.” said Dave Sevigny, president.

Micah Banks, Miles Cox, and Brooke McCord received their Bachelor’s degree in the spring of 2009 at the University of Kentucky, College of Communications and Information Studies.

###

Founded in 1996 in Lexington by IBM experts, DMD Data Systems, Inc. (DMD) deploys and supports hardware, software, and middleware solutions using technology products such as IBM and Oracle®. They focus on developing solutions that meet clients' business needs and budget requirements out of offices in Frankfort, Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. By helping their clients effectively manage their short-term hardware investments, DMD minimizes total cost of ownership and maximizes return on investment.

Before Active Directory was deployed, each school was connected to its Wide Area Network through a combination of frame relay circuits and wireless connectivity. Speed inevitably became an issue, so the Kentucky Education Technology System initiated a plan requiring each school to run an administrative server and student server, thus creating an infrastructure of 55 IBM servers under management in the District.

The Challenge

Active Directory soon struggled to perform at frame relay speeds when the District was forced to move to gigabit fiber. By the end of 2003, the majority of their 55 servers were struggling to keep up and needed to be replaced. Knowing that it would cost upw ards of $160,000 to upgrade equipment, it was decided that a more effective use of their funding was to improve on their environment through the installation of VMware. This less expensive and “greener” alternative allowed the District to increase server efficiency and utilization while decreasing their total number of servers and minimizing loss in productivity due to down-time.

The Results

Installing VMware allowed for consolidation of one administrative server at each school to one virtual server. “This proved to work out exceptionally well.” said Robin Duffy, Network Administration Specialist at the District. “VMware is robust and highly stable, and we reduced the number of servers visible on the network from 55 to less than 20.” The District is also pleased with their substantial savings of more than $100,000 on the initial implementation, and another $80,000 one-year later on new hardware for their “Breakthrough to Literacy” program at all elementary schools.

Virtualization

“Overall, virtualization has been nothing short of spectacular in saving money and providing flexibility to meet the continuing needs of our district.” said Duffy. Moving to a service-based virtual architecture allowed for more server consolidation and simplifying network upkeep, to name a few.

BladeCenter

While virtualization and VMware was successful, efficient, and economical to their business, one issue remained. Space and energy usage became a new project to tackle for the multiple “pizza box servers” they had in place since the beginning of this relationship. Granted, the District was quite pleased with the initial consolidation of these servers, but the remaining life of this equipment was a concern. “Replacing this equipment with a BladeCenter has been a wonderful solution to the District’s growing needs.” said Duffy. It currently holds 90 percent of the data for their school system, and provides room for expansion in the future.

“When you consider we serve over 8,500 students and 2,000 staff using 3,500 workstations, having fewer than 10 physical servers powering everything is simply amazing! You get what you pay for.” said Duffy.

DMD can simply solve your IT challenges too. Contact us for details at dmd@dmddatasystems.com.

Their search still proved to be difficult. Despite attending various presentations, the team remained confused about their options and had trouble comparing the volume of information and complicated proposals.

IBM Premier Business Partner, DMD Data Systems, Inc. (DMD), had a proven track record placing best-of-breed technology solutions in medium-size business environments like Juvenile Justice. Serving this type of market had traditionally allowed for the personalized and timely service they needed. Together, Juvenile Justice and DMD explored their options, and developed a solution that met all of their goals.

The Challenge

As a smaller department operating in the public sector, Juvenile Justice faced several limitations on their IT infrastructure. The department lacked ample space to fit larger equipment like a data center within a small room of their Frankfort, KY office. Funding for new equipment became available in cycles, which would limit the amount of hardware they could purchase at one time. It became crucial that the solution for Juvenile Justice would efficiently utilize the space available to them, while also conforming to budgetary restrictions.

The Solution

DMD proposed using VMware to increase server efficiency and utilization, and minimize the number of devices under management. The processing needs of the department called for the implementation of three IBM xSeries (x3650) servers running VMware, along with an IBM DS3400 Fiber Channel storage subsystem.

Despite the compact nature of these servers and storage, combined with the inherent density of running partitions using VMware, the limitations of the floor space remained. These boundaries were exemplified in the area of backup and disaster recovery. In order to have enough space to ensure adequate backup requirements, the department needed to have an off-site data center.

DMD helped Juvenile Justice to set up a Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) Fastback system. It uses a dedicated line to synchronize backup capabilities with a secondary data center in their Louisville office, which incidentally had more available floor space. This secondary data center provides the department with security against data loss and also provides server redundancy. In the event of a server failure or disaster in the building, a hot spare x3650 in Louisville would be capable of taking control of the operations for the entire department.

The Results

For the Department of Juvenile Justice, the decision to go with DMD Data Systems as their dedicated technology solution provider ensured a reliable configuration with readily available support and consultation. “We haven’t experienced any problems with our equipment,” states IT Director Bill May, “but I am confident that if a situation ever arises, we would receive the support we need, probably within three hours.” Juvenile Justice plans to continue to work with DMD Data Systems on future projects, including an upcoming venture in data digitization.

DMD Data Systems, Inc. can simply solve your IT challenges too. Contact us for details at dmd@dmddatasystems.com.

George H. Lovelace, IV has joined the company as a Senior Sales Representative. Mr. Lovelace offers over 25 years experience in the technology industry including extensive IBM, HP, Sun, Intel, and Tivoli product knowledge. He also holds certifications in Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM), and is an IBM Accredited Technical Professional. Mr. Lovelace has delivered executive briefings to IBM business partners and assisted IBM sales teams worldwide, including proof of concept training, labs, and diligence audits.

“Jeff Bell’s management of our Services Team is a huge step in launching this new venture at DMD. His experience with the Commonwealth and knowledge of service offerings will become a great benefit to our client base. Additionally, George Lovelace brings breadth of experience in storage and software products, further strengthening our presence and expertise as the sole provider of IBM storage hardware, IBM FileNet, and Oracle with the Commonwealth.” said Dave Sevigny, president.

###

Founded in 1996 in Lexington by IBM experts, DMD Data Systems, Inc. (DMD) deploys and supports hardware, software, and middleware solutions using technology products such as IBM and Oracle®. They focus on developing solutions that meet clients' business needs and budget requirements out of offices in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. By helping their clients effectively manage their short-term hardware investments, DMD minimizes total cost of ownership and maximizes return on investment. In 2007, DMD was awarded the “Top 5000 Fastest Growing U.S. Companies” by Inc. magazine and plans to increase the number of new employees by 40% in 2009.

We can hear you nodding your heads. So can Vincent Bellina, the enterprise capacity and planning manager at the University of Louisville. Vincent is responsible for forecasting storage needs and implementing appropriate solutions at the university located in Kentucky’s largest metropolitan area.

Almost every day, the IT department gets requests for new projects, he says. That’s not surprising when you consider that the university has three campuses, 12 colleges and schools, a research hospital, the National Crime Prevention Institute, a division of distance and continuing education, the state university library system, 6,000 employees and 22,000 students. The IT infrastructure hosts all business applications, including a core PeopleSoft system and a massive Oracle database, all student applications, and the university website. If that isn’t enough, the university is methodically migrating from its old client-server architecture to a peer-to-peer network because the previous environment became too expensive and unwieldy to manage.

Since Bellina and his colleagues possess neither superhuman capabilities nor the desire to work 28-hour days, something had to be done to automate tedious, time-consuming manual tasks related to managing and monitoring the university’s storage infrastructure.

Solution: Simple, Automated Storage Infrastructure Optimization

Bellina contacted DMD Data Systems for help selecting and implementing tools that would help him gain better understanding of the university’s storage environment and centralize its management. DMD specializes in information technology solutions that help customers create, transport, store and manage their critical information more effectively and efficiently.

A major component of the DMD solution is the IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center Suite. It provides Bellina with a single platform for centrally monitoring and managing his entire storage infrastructure. With it, he can view and understand performance, capacity, utilization and availability metrics, and set and receive alerts for threshold levels on a wide range of parameters.

Additionally, DMD recommended virtualization solutions from VMware and the IBM TS7520 Virtualization Engine, which provides tape virtualization that speeds backups and consumes less energy than tape storage. These tools helped the university consolidate hundreds of servers and storage devices and use them as shared pools of resources to improve utilization and minimize the number of devices under management.

Results: Easier Management with Improved TCO and ROI

Simplified System Management: Before the University of Louisville implemented the DMD solution, much of the storage management had to be performed manually on each machine.

“We used to have a lot of manual processes,” Bellina says. “But that took too much time and used up way too many resources. It’s a lot of work to manage storage that way.”

With the IBM TPC Suite, Bellina can manage his storage infrastructure from a single console. He’s reduced the complexity of managing the university’s storage environments by centralizing, simplifying and automating tasks associated with storage systems, storage networks, replication services and capacity management. Bellina and his team are now able to rapidly perform formerly time-consuming tasks of device management, such as provisioning, discovery, configuration, reporting and event logging. Additionally, automated controls allow IT managers to set performance thresholds that trigger automated alarms. When the system exceeds a threshold IT personnel can make necessary adjustments on the fly.

Lower TCO and Higher ROI: By virtualizing storage resources, Bellina has minimized the number of devices under management, which cuts both operating and administrative costs. Furthermore, virtualization lets him extend the life of his existing disk systems by improving the utilization of his lower-cost disk, which helps him storage cost per gigabyte.

“For example,” he said, “on our last upgrade we needed about 4TB of storage. Because of the virtualization and consolidation, I only had to buy about $25,000 worth of midrange disk instead of $50,000 worth of high performance disk.”

Additionally, as part of a tiered storage infrastructure, older storage devices can be repurposed for secondary and tertiary storage, thus extending their useful life by up to three years, which dramatically improves return on investment.

Information Lifecycle Management: Another major goal of Bellina’s was the implementation of an information lifecycle management strategy, in which information is stored on media that corresponds to its business value.

When storage resources weren’t centrally managed, Bellina didn’t have a way to effectively move information from primary disk to lower cost resources when the information became outdated. Virtualization eliminates such problems because it allows IT managers to logically allocate virtual resources and make appropriate adjustments according to businessdemands.

Increased Worker Productivity: Manual tasks dominated storage management until the installation of the DMD solution. Whether it was provisioning, replication or reporting, the storage task required some kind of manual intervention, Bellina says. Now that those tasks are automated, he and his colleagues have more time to perform higher-value tasks.

“What used to take an hour only takes 10 to 15 minutes,” Bellina says. “This has given us remarkable time gains.” By minimizing the time it takes to manage the storage infrastructure, Bellina has been able to keep up with university requests for IT projects without having to add more IT staff.

Improved Backup Performance: Like most other organizations, the University of Louisville faces exponential information growth. And it has to perform backups with shrinking or static windows of time.

The TS7520 Virtualization Engine addresses these issues by reducing tape mechanical delays and providing fault tolerant architecture options that support high availability. As part of a tiered storage system, the TS7520 gives the university greater flexibility in developing its backup and recovery strategy. Its scalability also gives the university a way to incrementally improve its IT infrastructure over time.

Proactive SAN Management: Previously, Bellina and his team could only react to system problems. The inability to act before an unwanted event often resulted in data and application unavailability and lost productivity. The TPC Suite prevents troubles before they occur. It’s designed to predict failures and issue alerts before any impacts to the network take place. It also automates SAN device discovery and simplifies the analysis of multiple aspects of the storage environment, including capacity, utilization, and availability.

“If anything is modified, we see it. If anything changes in the SAN, we’re able to see it and adapt to it,” Bellina says. “It’s made us proactive versus reactive. It has helped eliminate problems.”

Conclusion

The pressure to do more with less is as common as dirt. But accomplishing is easier said than done. What it requires is a thoughtful approach to determining what tools can help you gain greater control over your resources by consolidating them, centralizing their management and automating many of the repetitive manual tasks required to maintain the system. By virtualizing its storage resources and by selecting a powerful suite of monitoring and management tools, the University of Louisville has taken a lot of guesswork out of maintaining the health of its storage infrastructure and protecting large amounts of information. Additionally, the solutions that the university implemented minimize the total cost of ownership and maximize the return on investment by reducing the overall cost per gigabyte of storage and by increasing the functional life of storage resources. As storage devices age, they can be repurposed to support the organization’s tiered storage and ILM strategy, which can extend their use up to three years.

DMD can simply solve your IT challenges too. Contact us for details at dmd@dmddatasystems.com.

“The new Lexington and Frankfort offices offer DMD Data Systems, Inc. several opportunities to build on our services capabilities, enhance accessibility to clients, and position the company for continued growth and development,” said Anitra Thompson, VP of Marketing.

“We are excited about the many opportunities these new and expanded locations will provide us,” said Dave Sevigny, President. “This move provides the additional space we need to efficiently meet the needs of our clients and support near-future expansion, particularly our placing a Manager of Technology Services for our new Services Team effective January 2009, and our placing three Junior Sales Representatives in January 2009. In addition, relocating to one of Lexington’s most historic and prestigious locations confirms our commitment and interest in being an active part of this community."

The transition to these new offices has been seamless and will result in no interruption of services to clients. All existing telephone and fax numbers will be forwarded to the new location, and computer systems and electronic communication will not be affected.

###

Founded in 1996 in Lexington by IBM experts, DMD Data Systems, Inc. (DMD) deploys and supports hardware, software, and middleware solutions using technology products such as IBM, Oracle® and Arrow. They focus on developing solutions that meet clients' business needs and budget requirements out of offices in Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky. By helping their clients effectively manage their short-term hardware investments, DMD minimizes total cost of ownership and maximizes return on investment. In 2007, DMD was awarded the “Top 5000 Fastest Growing U.S. Companies” by Inc. magazine, and is scheduled to meet their plan to increase revenue 15% by the end of 2008.