Most businesses make the HUGE (and costly) error of mistaking a “backup” with data recovery and business continuity. NOT true! Simply having a copy of your data stored somewhere does not automatically guarantee you’ll be back up and running again like you were before. To give you a better idea of this concept, we’ve included a diagram (below) from the BCM Institute explaining three key concepts: Recovery Point Objective (RPO), Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Maximum Tolerable Outage (MTO, or MTPOD as shown below). In order to choose the RIGHT type of back up for your company, you need to know what these three acronyms mean.

First, the RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is the point to where you want your data restored. So, if you can’t afford to lose a day of work, your RPO may be practically “instant,” requiring real-time replication of any data change. If you can afford to lose a day of work, you only need a backup every night.

Next, the RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is the length of time you will be down after a disaster while your workstation or network is restored. Again, different backups will provide shorter (or much longer) RTO depending on what it takes to restore the data. For example, many businesses are shocked to discover it could take 2-5+ days or more to restore all their data from an online backup, and since most businesses cannot afford to be down that long another type of backup is needed.

And finally, MTO (Maximum Tolerable Outage) is the “code red” point in time where you MUST have your data operations, e-mail and applications back online and functioning before it would severely threaten your company’s survival. In some cases, businesses cannot afford certain processes to be down for more than a couple of hours, such as online ordering during the holidays for an e-commerce company. And often a company can do without access to non-critical applications for a couple of days, but couldn’t afford to have their critical applications down that long before they would start losing business and clients.

The key is to know WHAT data and business processes are MOST critical to you so the proper backup and disaster recovery solution can be put in place now before everything goes kaput (that’s the technical term for “goes wrong”). To get your data recovery handled properly, call us to discuss a Disaster Recovery Review to determine if you truly COULD be back up and running again as fast as you expect, and what you need to do now to guarantee zero unpleasant surprises.

You Give Up Things When You Buy An IBM AS400:

Things Like Viruses, Security Holes, Downtime,

Systems Management By Humans, And An Ever-Growing IT Staff

• Microsoft Windows’ predisposition to viruses is well known. But do you have any idea how extensive it is? A Google search on “Microsoft Windows virus” you will get over 68,500,000 hits! Do the same for “IBM OS400 virus” and you will get 0 hits. This is a telltale indication that OS400 is much more stable than Windows…and far less virus-prone. It is a fact that no OS400 user has experienced unplanned downtime from any virus.

• Windows is not only a less than stable platform, it is riddled with security holes and hidden costs. It is the IT industry “crash queen” of platforms. When was the last time you had to reboot your desktop to fix a Windows problem? Today…yesterday? Speaking from personal—and immediate—experience, I already had to do it several times today; and I am a computer expert.

• The AS400 self-managing data management reduces cost and complexity. All the other servers (UNIX, Linux, Windows, etc.) require a computer technician or service to allocate disk space for each program and data file, to specify their location on the disk, and when a disk fills up, to re-allocate space on a new disk. Those of you with bitter experience in the non-IBM world will perhaps smile at the following question: How many times have you had to get someone to load a program and create the path to the f drive or relocate a data file to an m drive?

The AS400 does all these things dynamically and automatically. It runs itself, dynamically managing program data location, allocation and relocation…so you can focus on your own business instead of on the technology of your tools.

• The IBM AS400 needs little or no IT staff. We know of a $2 billion enterprise that runs its business on an IBM AS400 supporting 1,200 users in 14 divisions in 7 time zones from Australia to Hungary …with an IT staff of 2! Your own experience may, of course, vary somewhat in either direction.

Just down the street is a $250 million company in the same industry, running its business on a UNIX server with Oracle. They have only 100 users, but they need an IT staff of 20! Plus, their ERP system, acquired about the same time as their $2 billion competitor, is still not completely rolled out.

Further, industry studies document that Windows networks need to staff one Windows Network Administrator per 25–50 users, depending on the application.

• Most AS400s have little or no downtime in a year. GartnerResearch, a leading technology consulting organization, released a study that showed the IBM AS400 to have on average 5.2 hours per year of unplanned downtime, though many users have run many years without ever experiencing any downtime at all. The same report revealed 224.5 hours of unplanned downtime for Windows.

Give Me 10 Minutes and I Will Save You $5000 – $80,000 On Your Next IBM Power i

Part 4 of a Series

In last month’s newsletter, I explained that you can save BIG by assessing what you really need and avoid buying more than necessary.

Rather than follow the prescribed upgrade path most Business Partners may propose, you now know how to select an entry IBM server with adequate disk capacity, memory, processor speed and user/processor activation fee pricing

How much can you save with this approach? I have seen savings of $5,000 – $20,000+.

Still More Ways to SAVE

Overbuy Concurrent Users – You Could Be Sold 40% to 60% More Users than You Need and Overpay $2,000 – $22,500 Unnecessarily.

In April 2007, IBM changed Power i servers to user-based pricing. With this new approach only authorized concurrent users may access applications and data on the Power i server. Depending on the Power i server, the first 5-10 users are no charge and subsequent users are $250 each in blocks of 5 user or 10 user increments. Sounds pretty simple, right? Actually, not. Although you may have as many as 200 users on a server, only 100-105 may be concurrently active. This means that a light user may become inactive when another light user makes a query. In such a case, the first user gets “signed off” as the new user requests access to the data. Heavy users are generally active all day long.

Unfortunately there is no simple OS400 tool provided that tells you how many of your users are really active. (There is an assessment and modeling tool that accurately documents the true number of concurrent users based on actual use over a minimum of 14 days. It cost a minimum of $1500 to use.)

You can, however, survey your users to determine the number of truly active users of the total users. For many small-to-medium OS400 servers about 60% of the total users are active. So, if you have 80 users and bought an 80 user license, you may only need 50 users. Such decision to just buy 50 users saves you $7,500. In another case, a prominent IBM Business Partner told the Power i user to buy a license for 200 users when in fact there were only 110 concurrent users. Had this Power i followed the advice of the prominent IBM Business Partner it would have overpaid $22,500. In short, an accurate assessment of concurrent users can easily save you $1,000 – $22,500+.

Pay Close Attention to the Software Included in Your Next Power i Proposal – It May Include Software and Software Support You Won’t Ever Use – and Cost $1,000 – $9,600+.

Two common IBM licensed program products that most small-to-medium Power i users will probably not use include DB2 Web Query and PowerVM.

Most Power i users work with Query for ad hoc reporting and debugging RPG. On the other hand, I know of very few users who have really taken the time to learn and exploit DB2 Web Query. You may have taken advantage of a promotion to get DB2 Web Query for free. But did you know you may be paying $1,600 to $9,600 per year for ongoing software maintenance? If you don’t use this product, you may be paying extra on your annual maintenance and not even know it.

Also, PowerVM is the IBM licensed software you must have if you need to create and support LPARs. Most Power i servers (how about 70-80% of all Power i’s) do not have LPARs. In fact, according to IBM presentations I have read only the top 8% of Power i’s (740s, 750s, 770s and 790s) are installed with LPARs as part of their larger server consolidation plans. In contrast, the vast majority of Power i’s can easily be satisfied with either the Entry or a small Enterprise class Power i server without PowerVM. How much does this software cost? About $985 to $2000 and about $200-$600 per year for software support. If you don’t need it and won’t use it, why pay for it?

Do You Really Need a New, Big UPS – Probably Not.

Clearly, you are gambling with protecting your data without UPS protection when you operate an SQL-based server like an OS400 DB2. The point is how big should the UPS be? Unlike older IBM mini-computers, like the S/36, S/38 and the early AS400s, the new Power i’s are more like PC towers with small power consumption and can use much smaller UPS for protection. Generally speaking, a UPS with 1000 – 1200 VA that sells in a range of $1200 – $1900 is more than adequate. In fact, your current UPS may be more than sufficient, provided the batteries are in good shape. So when you see a line item for a UPS that sells for $2,500 to $5,500+, be skeptical. You may be pitched a pricey UPS that is way more than what you need.

With the right lease you can avoid $5,000—$15,000 of sneaky hidden costs.

When it comes to financing, I rarely suggest a lease with a Fair Market Value lease-end. Simply stated, this type of financing will cost you more during the lease term. How much more? Well, in cases where clients have brought us in after working with a different reseller, I have seen them get scalped for another $5,000 to $15,000. In one case, $50,000! (Yikes.)

Sometimes the Most Expensive Configuration Mistake Has Nothing to Do With Technology – and Everything to Do With the WRONG Lease that can Cost You $10,000+.

While leasing is a common way to pay for a new Power i server, the wrong lease can cost you $10,000+. There are two very basic lease types: 1) one has a $1 dollar end-of-lease payout (full payout lease), and 2) the other has a Fair Market Value Lease end (sometime called an FMV). IBM Global Finance refers to the full payout lease as “B$” and the FMV lease as “B.” With a full payout lease you own the computer at the end of the lease for $1 with no end-of-lease surprises.

On the other hand, a FMV lease does not have a full payout. With this kind of lease, the leasing company makes an investment called a “residual value” that is not paid during lease term. For example, for a three-year lease, the leasing company may invest 10% of the total purchase price as the residual. You get a lower lease payment – but if you want to buy the computer at the end of lease, chances are the FMV will be greater than 10% – try 15% to 25%+.

Or, when you upgrade to a new OS400 server, the leasing company may “sneak” in an extra 15%-25%+ residual from your old lease into the new lease.

Or, perhaps you find your FMV lease auto-renewed for another year – and you did not even know it.

While I won’t say I have seen all the “dirty tricks” in this style of leasing, I have seen plenty. In fact, I have 7 white papers documenting many of the common tricks I have seen. If you want more on this subject, contact me and I will share more information with you so you are better protected.

There is more to cover — but I’m out of space in this month’s newsletter.

There are many other points we review when preparing a client for a new Power i. They include what application software you use; your OS400 version and PTF level; your network design; your backup media and recovery strategy; and your 5-year support needs. These factors are unique to each client and we handle them on a case-by-case basis.

“Plus we get that added benefit of better disaster recovery, no SunGard fees and no extra expense for backup tapes.”

Background

Ullico, Inc. is a privately-held insurance and financial services holding company. Founded in 1925, Ullico is one of the largest insurers, risk solutions and investment managers focused on the union marketplace in the United States. It is based in Washington, D.C.

Ullico, Inc. provides specialty insurance and investment products to labor organizations, union employers, municipalities and institutional investors, as well as union members and retirees.

Ullico had moved its custom COBOL policy administration and workers’ compensation applications from an IBM mainframe to their AS400. More recently, Ullico supports 40 users on an IBM i5 9406-520 model 7735 with 2800 CPW and 2 LPARs.

Ullico’s AS400 IT staff consists of 2 in operations and 4 developers.

Need To Migrate Ingrained Applications

Marc Zinsmeister, Ullico’s Director of IT Operations, explains, “We were looking to migrate our specialty insurance application off our i5 hardware. The problem we had was this and other i5 applications that are on our i5 are so ingrained in our business, that the business has a hard time retiring them and looking for other solutions to replace them.

“So we were looking for ways to keep those applications in-house but move the responsibility for the server support off our premises. While these custom COBOL applications had suited us well, we wanted to replace them with more modern applications that run on Windows, which is our primary platform. We figure it would probably take us a minimum of 18 months to find and implement a replacement, so we wanted to explore interim options for our i5 applications.

Recompiling Our Key Applications To Windows Was Cost Prohibitive

Marc continues, “The first solution we found was a company that was willing to come in and basically recompile the i5 applications to Windows hardware. As we looked at that solution, it was intriguing to us since we do run all Windows servers aside from the i5. The problem was that it was very cost-prohibitive. With an initial bid of $95,000, we felt that was too expensive. It was not worth the effort for applications we were still looking to retire and we would only use for a few years.

Customized Applications Hard To Replace

“These were applications we had maintained on our IBM mainframe. They were then ported to the AS400. For the last couple of years we have been looking for newer policy administration systems to replace them. But because these systems have been working so well for so long and they have been customized to meet our business, it has been hard to find an out-of the-box application to replace them. So we are still looking to replace them, but we need to at least maintain these applications for a couple of years while we search for the right product.

End Of V5R4 Support Requires Upgrade

As Marc explains, “Another driving factor was if we were going to maintain them on the AS400, at version V5R4, we realized there was an end-of-support date coming up in September 2013. So if we were going to have to maintain these products, we knew we had to do the upgrade to V7R1 no matter what.

Need For Disaster Recovery

“Another factor that concerned us was our Disaster Recovery model required us to have access to an AS400 system. Currently we contract with SunGard. SunGard just offers a single unit on a first-come-first-serve basis. In the event of disruption, whoever got on site first would be first to use this server. This meant all others were out of luck and had to wait. The more we thought about it, the more we did not like that approach. This meant a hosted solution would allay disaster recovery concerns.

Cloud400 Less Than $15,200 Per Year For IBM Support And SunGard DR

“So, we were spending about $11,600 for IBM hardware and software support and $3,600 per year for SunGard — about $15,200 combined. We were thinking we needed to explore some more cost-effective options. That’s about the time my i5 Administrator got a letter from Source Data Products, Inc. about Cloud400 and brought it to my attention.

Free Trial And Comprehensive Assessment Makes Cloud400 Easy To Try

“Our first contact with Cloud400 went very well. They gave us a brief overview of the services. One of the things we really liked about Cloud400 was the free trial so we could kick the tires and get a feel for what we would be getting into.

“Our next step was the assessment. The process was very painless. I got a Cloud400 Assessment form. Easy to fill out and just a couple of reports to run on our system and send back.

“We then had a very short assessment conference call with Bob Kennedy. It was also very painless. We spoke about our needs based on the assessment form and the reports we sent back. The Cloud400 guys were very helpful describing how we would go forward with Cloud400 and any aspect we would need to look at for future growth.

“You guys took the information I provided and came back with a quote in a couple of days. It couldn’t go more smoothly.

Cloud400 Flexible For Longer Testing Period

“At that point, we explained that we would have a longer testing period than your typical 60 day trial. Cloud400 was very flexible and explained that we could test as long as we needed to make sure we were comfortable with the Cloud400 solution.

“When we got the Cloud400 proposal, we had some questions about how Cloud400 did the hosting, what the data center was like and what the Cloud400 disaster recovery procedure was like. You stepped us through your procedures and got us comfortable with it. We couldn’t be happier.

Cloud400 Team Provided Excellent Support

“The Cloud400 team of Bob Kennedy, Darren Anderson and Bob Hall – those guys have been great to get us up and running. They have been very accommodating and attentive. Doing any kind of tape load, system updates, getting on conference calls with us to work anything out. I know Darren and my teammate Tyrone have been working well together to understand what needs to be done to get this working. Darren is great with his AS400 knowledge. He has actually been able to teach my AS400 admin a few things. You guys have been great in helping move towards the go-live date. I can’t ask for anything more.

VPN Connects To System

“The Testing process was we essentially create a full backup of our system and sent the tape to Cloud400. You guys took about a day to restore it to one of the Cloud400 Power i servers. We worked with Bob Hall to create the VPN tunnel to allow us to connect to the system. We got the VPN set up in under an hour. Darren worked with us to get the user accounts set. We logged in. We basically opened it up to our end-users so they could log in and check their applications to make sure everything was working as expected.

“After about 2-3 weeks of testing Cloud400 at V5R4, Darren upgraded us to V7R1. Once that was done, that’s when we started our true regression testing. We ran our month-end batches, our reporting, and conducted report comparisons between our on-premise i5 server and Cloud400 at V7R1. This process took about 45 days.

V7R1 DB2 Has Stricter SQL Conditions

“We ran into a few minor issues. We noticed the new V7R1 had stricter SQL conditions. Our development team went back and fixed those issues, which we knew we would have encountered regardless of the path we took. The development team rewrote some of their code and retested to get everything working properly.

Cloud400 Results — Exactly What We’re Looking For

“At the conclusion of our regression testing, the results are exactly what we are looking for. The Cloud400 reports exactly as expected with our i5 production report. We have used some tolls to compare numbers and everything lines up.

“In terms of response time, we noticed Cloud400 latency was about the same to better than our i5 on-premise server sitting right upstairs.

“Now, on the business side, our users log in and don’t know the difference if they are on our i5 or your Cloud400.

Absolutely Recommend Cloud400

“I would absolutely recommend Cloud400. I would tell anyone who would want to know that not only are the Cloud400 folks accommodating and knowledgeable, the cost of Cloud400 is definitely an enticement in and of itself. Cloud400 is less expensive than the cost we pay for IBM hardware and software support. Plus we get that added benefit of better disaster recovery, no SunGard fees and no extra expense for backup tapes.

“For any user that needs Disaster Recovery (DR) or hosting of any OS400 application, it almost does not make sense to purchase an on-premise server.”

Background

Vilden Associates, Inc. has provided information systems solutions to the transportation industry since 1979. The largest portion is ocean carriers.

More specifically, Vilden provides OS400-based hosted solutions to over 100 international clients so they can have their cargo approved by US Customs before it even gets loaded on ships bound for America. Even before cargo can be loaded on a container vessel, US Customs must receive a copy of the cargo manifest, approve it and transmit back a proof of acceptance. All of those container ships coming into the United States from all over the world bringing all of the imported products must have their shipping manifest blessed by US Customs. Considering the cost of a vessel in port at $50,000+ per day, clearly this is a time-sensitive, critical application because without that approval, the ship cannot load.

Critical Round The Clock Application Supported In Mobile, Alabama

Brian Bradley, Vilden’s Technical Director, explains, “Our production is located in Mobile, Alabama. We have an IBM Power7 i 8202-E4B production server hosting over 100 clients, mostly overseas – mostly in Asia. Around the clock we receive cargo manifests that must be approved by US Customs before the cargo can be loaded on the boat.”

Disaster Recover (DR) Target Server In California

“Because this application is so critical – we cannot afford any downtime whatsoever – we had been replicating this system with Vision’s iTera to a 9406-520 located at our corporate offices in Signal Hill, California, near Long Beach.”

In August, 2012 Brian started to rethink his High Availability backup strategy.

9406-520 Target Server Upgrade Means Capital Investment

Brian explains, “I had two concerns. First, we figured our 9406-520 would have to be upgraded in about a year to newer technology. That would mean a capital investment for a new IBM power i.”

No Technical Staff For Target Server In California

“Second, we had no technical staff at our corporate location. If we ever did have to role swap to our target server, I did not feel comfortable that we had any one on hand that had OS400, application or networking expertise. In the event we really needed someone to get into a firewall or do something on the system, we would be kind of stuck, and that’s not where I wanted to be.”

Hosting Solution With Expertise Needed

That’s what prompted Brian to start exploring his options to find a hosting solution with OS400 and networking expertise. “We were looking for somebody to host our target server or use shared resources someplace other than our corporate location. My main concern was I wanted to have technical people available in the event – it never has happened and hopefully it will never happen – that we need to rollover to our disaster site.”

Hosting Means NO Capital Expense

“In addition, we were interested in not having to make a purchase or lease payments for a new server. We figured we could save that money and roll it into a new agreement with whatever hosting company we went with.”

Most Hosting Options Lacked OS400 Expertise – Until Cloud400

Brian continues, “We first checked out hosting services. I recall these datacenters charged between $2000 to $4000 per month just to provide a rack for my IBM OS400 server. Some guys came in lower, but I could tell that they did not have an understanding of what an OS400 server even was. Maybe they could find some space in a rack and I could drop a system in there. But if I needed technical support, I did not get the warm and fuzzies that they would be able to really help. So, most of these options lacked the OS400 expertise we needed.”

Cloud400 Hosting Solution Has In-Depth OS400 Expertise AND iTera Expertise

“We also contacted several OS400 hosting locations. While a few had the OS400 expertise, it was not until we spoke to Cloud400 that we found a hosting solution that had iTera expertise. None of the hosting service providers we spoke to had experience with iTera.”

Cloud400 53% Less Expensive Than Other Hosting Solutions

“Better still, Cloud400 was 53% less expensive than these other OS400 hosting solutions. A big savings.

“I could tell from talking to the Cloud400 team that they were very knowledgeable of OS400, hosting, iTera replication and had network expertise.”

Critical VPN Connection With US Customs

“Network expertise is critical to us because we must link to US Customs to provide our clients with the manifest approval. One of our requirements from day one was to get a VPN to connect to US Customs – that’s our lifeline for getting our ships’ manifests on file with US Customs. Without that link to Customs, that disaster site does not work for us.

Cloud400 No Risk Free Trial

“We liked the Cloud400 free trial because it takes most of the risk out for us to move forward.”

Free Test Cloud400 – Even With iTera

“We did not need to send a tape to start testing Cloud400. Instead, we used iTera to replicate our system to the Cloud400 LPAR “virtual server.” It took about a week for Cloud400 to have a complete copy of our system.”

Cloud400 Team Very Knowledgeable

“The Cloud400 team was great. They are knowledgeable. Easy to get a hold of. The team has been available when I call or email. It’s been a great group to work with. We got the bulk of the testing completed pretty quickly – about 2 weeks.”

Cloud400 Security Level

“We feel very comfortable with the level of Cloud400 security with the combination of IBM PowerVM, VPN encryption, limited IP address access and OS400 security, such as user profile and password.”

The Future Of OS400 Computing Is Going To Cloud

“I have no doubt in my mind that the future of OS400 computing is going to the cloud. Those of us who know the system know that IBM OS400 is great for business applications but we are running out of expertise in the field. So I know it will be concentrated in certain areas. I think it will probably be just a bunch of big servers and LPARs and those who know will run them. This is kind of what we are doing now. We have consolidated customers that used to have their own on-premise servers and now we are hosting their systems or sharing LPARs of our system.”

Our Customers Also Need Cloud400

“We still have customers who have on-premise servers that do not have a DR

solution. They have a need for Cloud400. We also know of users in the Mobile area that have their own systems; when it comes time to upgrade or get a new system, it may make sense to consider Cloud400.”

We Will Bring More Business To Cloud400

“I would recommend Cloud400. In fact, we will bring more business to Cloud400. For any user that needs Disaster Recovery (DR) or hosting of any OS400 application, it almost does not make sense to purchase an on-premise server unless you must have the system on site for some reason.”

As a JD Edwards user, the biggest difference was the price for setup and migration. I got one bid for the JD Edwards migration that was nearly 5 times the price quoted by Source Data – a savings of $40,000.”

Background

General contractors for over 87 years and with offices in both Southern and Northern California, Steve P. Rados, Inc. (SPR) is a California-based heavy engineering construction company with diverse projects ranging from bridges, interchanges, streets and highways to water transmission lines, sewer systems, treatment plants, flood control structures, marine pipelines, reservoirs, and channels. Most of SPR’s clients include utilities and state and local government.

Since 2000, Steve P. Rados, Inc. has supported 15 primary users and a total of 40 users on a 9406-820 on V5R4. SPR relies on J.D. Edwards A7.3 for their application software. In 2012, with notification of IBM’s intent to discontinue OS400 V5R4 support in September 2013 and Oracle’s notification to withdraw support for J.D. Edwards A7.3, Information Technology Manager Jerrod Williams knew it was time to upgrade to a more modern IBM Power i server.

Inherited IBM 9406-820 And J.D. Edwards Technology

“Actually, the IBM 9406-820 and J.D. Edwards were in operation before my time,” explains Jerrod. “When I came on board to Steve P. Rados, Inc., I inherited the management of this technology.”

“With the announcements from IBM and Oracle of their intent to discontinue support for our IBM 9406-820 technology, it only made sense to get up to speed on a newer server,” Jerrod continues.

Support Expiration Like Technical Time Bomb

“The users that rely on J.D. Edwards include the controller, the accounting manager, the payroll manager, accounts payable and the equipment managing department. They were not really aware of the pending expiration of support. I knew my support expiration was like a technical time-bomb but as far as my users were concerned, as long as they get the reports that they need, they are happy. So I took the initiative to research what we needed to do.

SPR Requires Three Bids

“Our company requires that we get three bids. For example, every time we have to buy ink or toner, we source about the three different suppliers.

“While we had worked with Source Data Products since 2000, I also invited two other IBM Business Partners to participate in our server evaluation. The other two Business Partners had been referred to us and were established businesses. I could tell from talking to their technical people that they were capable.

Source Data Products, Our Business Partner Since 2000

“But these other two business partners seemed more accustomed to working with larger businesses. They gave me the impression that they generally don’t work with businesses with 15 primary users. Instead, I got the feeling that these IBM Business Partners’ clients generally had 200 to 500 users or more. That by itself really doesn’t bother me but I noticed that their support fees were way more expensive. I just didn’t feel they were on the same scale as we are.

Source Data Products Understands Size and Scale

“I knew from our relationship with Source Data that they were much more aligned with a business of our size.

“I also felt these bigger Business Partners just fired manpower at projects instead of taking the time to get deep into figuring out what needs to be done so the work could be completed more cost-effectively.

Business Partners’ Proposals With A Difference

“When each of the Business Partners presented their proposals, the server configuration prices were relatively close.

“The biggest difference was the price for setup and migration. I knew with J.D. Edwards, our migration from OS400 V5R3 to V7R1 would probably be more expensive. In fact, I got one bid for the migration that was nearly 5 times the price quoted by Source Data.

SDP Professional Services Include Comfort Factor

“Source Data’s professional services were still lower. I also had a comfort factor that Source Data could deliver because of our past relationship. I could tell during our evaluation that Source Data’s technical team was competent as well as experienced with migrating J.D. Edwards users to newer versions of OS400.

Source Data’s Senior OS400 Expert More Than Willing To Help

“I worked with one of Source Data’s senior OS400 technical experts, Mark Breisacher. Working with Mark was pretty painless. He did pretty much all the leg work getting everything

converted. He did exactly what we pay them to do. If I came in on a weekend, he was more than willing to help out when I needed him — no matter if it was 7:00 in the morning. Sure enough, every time I called, he was there and willing to help.

“Overall, it was a pretty smooth transition.

“After we got our Power i up and running, we did encounter a printing issue. We had a case where the printer was printing characters all over the place. So Mark got IBM involved and we got it all fixed.

End Users Notice Speed Improvement

“When we went live, the end-users noticed an improvement in speed. Everyone seemed to notice their screens went faster. They log on a little bit quicker. They notice their processes run faster.

LAN Console What I Really Like

“What I really like is the new LAN console. I can get to the system from my office or from my home. I don’t have to go to the server room anymore to work with the console. It’s fantastic. I can even VPN from my desktop at home. If I ever have a problem, I could have Mark Breisacher dial-in remotely with LAN console access to determine what’s going wrong and fix it. For me, this is really huge.

Definitely Recommend Source Data Products

“I would recommend Source Data Products. Source Data is more than capable to get the job done. I find them very responsive. Very customer-oriented. And competitively priced. I can more than trust them to get the job done on time and priced as promised.”

Background

Ken Hatton operates Hatton Insurance as the IT service provider for United Agribusiness League (UAL).

UAL provides healthcare for agribusinesses. Since the creation of the non-profit United Agricultural Benefit Trust (UABT) health care plan in 1983, approximately 700,000 individuals have received the benefits connected with this association-sponsored plan. Simply put, that is a lot of IT administration.

Hatton Insurance ran their IBM 9406-270 on OS400 V5R4, 4 GB of memory, and 176 GB disk capacity with 75% disk utilization. Hatton’s insurance administration program supports 40 local users and 50 remote users in 10 offices throughout California and Mexico.

Cloud Computing? I Was Skeptical At First…Then I Became A Believer.

Ken first heard about Cloud400 in February 2012. “I was extremely concerned about the security of my data and HIPAA compliance. That was my original thought back then. Then I got to thinking the Cloud400 guys could probably take better care of the OS400 system than I could.

“The Cloud400 team explained how my data is secure and how they satisfy HIPAA compliance. The fact that they had several other clients in banking and healthcare also made me feel comfortable that Cloud400 is secure.

“As I learned more about Cloud400, I realized I could get the Cloud400 team to handle my backups and keep OS400 current. From my standpoint, this is a valuable benefit. With the advances of the IBM OS400, the networking and connectivity and web-based issues, it takes the technical burden off my shoulders. It’s really hard to stay current on all these collaborative technologies.”

Cloud400 – Less Expensive Than An IBM On-Premise Server With More Flexibility Than A Capital Expense

Ken continues, “It also made sense financially for us to move to Cloud400. When I looked at the Cloud400 costs, it was a much better value than buying or leasing a new IBM Power i server.

“With Cloud400, I have the flexibility to opt out in three years. I avoid a major capital expenditure and it’s more cost-effective to pay-as-you-go rather than buying a new IBM server.

“If healthcare goes gangbusters, I know with Cloud400 I can easily scale.”

Free Cloud400 Trial

Ken concludes, “Based on all of these advantages, I decided to try the free Cloud400 test. We overnighted a backup tape in a secure lockbox to be restored to a Cloud400 logical partition (LPAR) dedicated to us.”

Knowledgeable, Attentive Technical Service

“Your Cloud400 team was phenomenal. Darren really knows his stuff. Every time I talked to Bob Hall about network and VPN connections, he would get right back to me. Initially, my iPhone and iPad would not connect. It turns out the fix was very simple — Bob just had to create new user profiles in the Cloud400 firewall. Problem solved.

“Another time I found if I logged in one profile that I could not log in that same profile with another computer. Bob Hall explained to me that this is a Microsoft deal. Bob said the only way around this is with multiple user IDs. Bob said, ‘Give me the user IDs and passwords and you will have the connections within an hour.’ Sure enough, an hour later I got an e-mail from Bob that the multi-user issue was resolved. He fixed that issue with more firewall user profiles.

“I am so happy we went with Cloud400. In the past, I did my own installations of OS400, applied PTFs and version upgrades, all of that stuff. I now realize I am nowhere near the level of expertise of your OS400 professionals who support Cloud400. That’s just fine with me.

“While I know what all that technology does to make it easier for users to work with screens, connectivity and mobility, the technology ‘hidden behind the simplicity’ is far more complex than our users can imagine. That’s why I’m glad Cloud400 is now supporting my system.”

Better Performance

“Since we’ve gone to Cloud400, we have also seen performance improvements. We had a nightly job that now runs 25 minutes faster and our users have noticed the increase in response time. That’s a bonus in itself.”

Cloud400 Is Like What We Already Offer Our Clients

“Our UAL CEO was at a conference prior to our migration and announced, ‘We’re going to The Cloud.’  An attendee approached our CEO and asked, ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ When he told me about the incident, I said, ‘Well, look at it this way, our outer offices are already in a cloud environment because they are all remote to the system here in Irvine. So, what’s the difference if our server is now in Minnesota?’  Our CEO responded, ‘Good point. No real change.’  Neither one of us saw a problem moving to Cloud400.

“I think a lot of non-technical people are not knowledgeable of the unique, reliable design of OS400. Instead, they group OS400 in the same category as all cloud computing, which is primarily Windows and UNIX-based. They hear the horror stories about cloud companies losing service, having unexpected instability, or getting security breaches without understanding how OS400 has built in reliability and security to avoid these issues. With Cloud400, we don’t have these problems.”

Scalable. Secure. A Big Marketing Plus For Us.

“When I explained to our Vice President of sales about moving to Cloud400, he said, ‘Scalable? Secure? I can sell the crap out of that.’

Our VP of sales came from the third-party administration world where the employer manages the healthcare plan. You work with a company like ours and we handle the administration for you. So he’s thinking of the bigger companies out there – 500, 1000, 2000+ size groups. You need to have your act together when you go out and try to land the big fish. It is far more relevant in today’s marketplace to say we have leading edge technology with our system in “The Cloud” at a secure data center. So, Cloud400 is a big plus for him too.”

Tom Cox, IT Consultant
United Credit Service, Inc.

Background
United Credit Service, Inc. (UCS) is an Elkhorn, Wisconsin-based accounts receivable management and debt collection agency founded in 1950. One of the key industries UCS serves is healthcare.

In particular, getting insurance companies to pay on submitted claims can be a very tedious and time consuming task. UCS can effectively maximize insurance claim collections by using experienced, knowledgeable Insurance Claims Collection Specialists coupled with UCS’s customizable insurance collection process.
UCS’s IT consultant is Tom Cox. Tom managed the 9406-270 with 19 users supporting Receivables Management Expert; an application specialized for the collection industry and developed by Quantrax Software of Bethesda Maryland.

Upgrade Needed for Specialized Software GUI
“Our application vendor, Quantrax Software, had developed a Graphical Use Interface for our application Receivables Management Expert, but we needed to be at V6R1 to use the new GUI,” Tom explains. “Our 9406-270 could not go above V5R4 so it was time to get a new server.

Not Sure Whereabouts Of Old Business Partner
 “I can’t even remember the IBM Business Partner that provided us with this 9406-270, it was so long ago. I am not even sure they are still around.

Source Data Products Was Natural Choice
“I had been talking to Source Data for years and had been receiving their newsletters, which I always enjoy reading. It seemed like when we were ready to look at our options that Source Data was the natural choice.

SDP Explains Our Three Options – On Premise Power i, Used System i, Cloud400
“When I called for help, Source Data explained that we had three options: 1) a new Power7 i 8202-E4C, 2) a used server, and 3) a cloud option.

“While the cloud option sounded good, management preferred to keep their data in-house and favored an on-premise approach.”

Tom continues, “As a far as a used server, Source Data pointed out that the savings were not there because of the hidden costs, such as IBM software maintenance (SWMA) and After License Fee (ALF). In fact, the used IBM server was far more expensive than I thought – especially when I understood the hidden costs.

After Review, New Power7 i Was Better Value
“We became convinced that a new on-premise IBM Power i was the way to go,” Tom explained. “When you add the cost for SWMA, ALF and hardware support, the new Power7 i was clearly a better value – comparable cost, faster performance and longer life.

Comprehensive Assessment And Planning – 7 Steps To Power i Success
“One activity in our server planning that really stood out was Source Data’s comprehensive assessment,” Tom continues. “It’s their 7 Steps to Power i Success. For starts, Source Data sent me an assessment form asking me questions about my server, my application software, my infrastructure and my operation. I really felt like they took the time to really get to know us.

“Next, we had an assessment review conference call with Source Data and Mark Breisacher, one of their senior OS400 technicians. We really hashed out several issues I never thought about. I also got clear on several other points I needed to research with my software solution provider.

“We prepared a migration plan that included me sending a backup of my system to the Source Data tech center to upgrade to the latest OS400 version and start testing even before my server arrived.

“I was really impressed because with the assessment and planning I knew we would make our cutover deadline hassle-free.

Offsite OS400 Version Upgrade Was Hassle-Free – Our Migration Was Really Easy
“Working with Source Data on our OS400 was hassle-free – really easy. I sent Source Data’s Mark a backup tape from our system. In a couple of days he had our applications migrated to V7R1 on a server at the Source Data tech center. I just had to make some minor tweaks to our software. The process was seamless.

“When I was ready to receive our new Power i, Mark shipped us our 8202-E4C preloaded with our software on V7R1. He also sent us a tape drive to attach to our old system so we could migrate our data to our new 8202-E4C on compatible media.

We planned the migration for a Saturday when the office was closed so as to not impact our users. The day before Mark sent me a checklist of the steps I needed to take in order to get our data migrated to the new system. The transition was easy. Everything went off without a hitch.

Mark Breisacher, Excellent Technician, Even Helps With IBM Calls To Fix An IBM Problem
“Mark was excellent to work with,” Tom raves. “Anytime I had a question I would call him up and he would have the answer to my question.  In fact, he even called IBM once for me because I was trying to get one of the web servers to work on our new 8202-E4C. We could not get to the OS400 web browser interface.

“Mark called IBM and was told that it was the anti-virus software running on our Power i that was causing the problem. Then with Mark’s help we got a hold of another IBM engineer using the problem number Mark had gotten.

“It turned out the hitch was a bunch of permission settings on IBM OS400 IFS folders that needed to be changed in order to get the interface to work again.

“Now we are able to manage the servers through the web interface again.

New Power i Runs A Whole Lot Faster
“The new Power i definitely runs a whole lot faster compared to our 9406-270. Our nightly processing that used to run in about 2.5 hours now completes in 25 minutes. Last week when I updated our software, the instructions noted that when I submitted the job to batch that it would take about 30 minutes – it completed in 2 minutes.

Definite Recommendation of Source Data Products
“I would definitely recommend Source Data for a new IBM Power i server. I cannot think of anything Source Data could have done different or better.

Background

Founded in 1976 by Jack Nellessen and located in Castle Rock, Colorado, Master Magnetics, Inc. manufactures and distributes magnets and magnetic devices for commercial, industrial and consumer use.

PCI Compliancy And Year-End Tax Incentives Motivate An Upgrade To New Power i

Master Magnetics operates Application Plus with 50 users. The System i production server 9406-525 had 4 GB memory, 490 GB disk (8 x 70 GB disk RAID5, 53% disk utilization) on V5R4 with 3800 CPW.

Management wanted to be PCI compliant so Application Plus could process credit card transactions properly and swiftly. The new Application Plus ePayments credit-card processing module runs on V7R1 and works with VeriFone. With ePayments, Master Magnetics would be able to immediately process credit card transactions on line with Application Plus without access to a credit card machine.

Management also wanted to take advantage of year-end capital equipment tax benefits.

Bob Loser, Master Magnetic’s I.S. Administrator, was tasked to move the company to IBM’s newest Power i server technology.

“I had worked with Source Data Products, Inc. in the past,” says Bob. “I knew Source Data’s prices were always better than the ‘big kids’, so I invited them to participate in our upgrade planning.”

“The previous IBM Business Partner that supplied our 9406-525 sold us a server with integrated xSeries Intel servers that was probably much bigger than what we needed. I recall it was over $170,000.”

“When I asked for help to determine our server options, Source Data sent me their proprietary POWER i Assessment Checklist. Besides requesting our 9406-525 rack configuration, the SDP assessment covered topics like user count, application software and related application modules, performance characteristics, disk utilization and server-to-server integration. I really found the assessment quite thorough.”

New IBM Power i Is $99,200 Less Than Expected

“Based on my last experience with the 9406-525, I had expected the Power i to be in a price range of $125,000.”

“Then I had a conference call with Bob Losey and Mark Breisacher, a senior SDP OS400 tech. During the conference call, they explained that by decoupling the integrated xSeries Intel servers the IBM Power i entry server had more performance and capacity than our 9406-525 and was far less expensive than an Enterprise Power i. The Power i 8202 they suggested was over $99,200 less than I thought we would have to pay!”

“An unexpected challenge came up during the conference call. Our 9406-525 had three integrated xSeries servers with virtual disks in the IFS. It became apparent we could easily justify replacing these xSeries with new IBM x3650 with their own internal disk unit and VMware. We determined we could connect these new Intel servers to the Power i via high-speed Ethernet. It was that straightforward.”

We Got A New Power i and Three System x For $52,600 Less Than We Expected

“So, we got a new Power i and three x3650 with 3 years of IBM support for $62,361 – over $52,600 less than our original budget!”

Remote V7R1 Version Upgrade Provides A Smooth Migration

It was really important to us to have a smooth migration from our 9406-525 to the new Power i. Mark Breisacher explained how he can take a complete backup of our system at V5R4 and upgrade it to V7R1 at the SDP tech center. I recall Mark calling it the 4-hour version upgrade.

“I could see the advantages of SDP’s remote version upgrade approach. First, Source Data Products would test my system backup and recovery – like a free disaster recovery test that validates our backup.”

“Second, once upgraded to V7R1, I can remotely test this version by VPN to validate the applications software and that the data base works properly at the new OS400 level. My production is not impacted by this testing.”

“Once validated, Mark preloads our upgraded system to our new Power i. When the 8202 arrives at Master Magnetics, we just restore our last backup. So the set up and cutover only takes about 4-6 hours — not the entire weekend like the last cutover to the 9406-525.”

Onsite Power i Set Up Was Simple And Short – Saved Us A Lot Of Time

“The actual onsite conversion was simple and short. This was my first experience with pretesting and preloading. The cutover went quite well. Mark even brought a tape drive compatible with our new LTO-5 so we could save current data from the 9406-525 to restore to the new 8202 so balances were current.”

“The SDP preloaded 8202 migration really saved us a lot of time and went smoothly.”

I Would Recommend Source Data Products. They Are Straight With Me And Their Prices Are Always Better Than The “Big Kids”.

I would recommend Source Data Products. I have worked with Bob Losey over the years. He is straight with me and their prices are always better than the ‘big kids’.”

Power I Webinar

How To Save on P7: FAQs Working With SDP(3 minutes 39 seconds)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the IBM Business Partner Program and, specifically, working with Source Data Products.

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