“It Was Easy To Get Ahold Of Cloud400 … I Got A Response In Like 5 Minutes. With Good Answers. Really Different Than What I Experienced From Other IT Providers.”
Background
City of Bristol is an independent city located in southwestern Virginia. It is the twin city of Bristol, Tennessee, just across the state line, which runs down the middle of its main street, State Street.
Bristol was recognized as the “Birthplace of Country Music”, according to a resolution passed by the United State Congress in 1998.
On the Tennessee side, Bristol is home to Bristol Motor Speedway, the “world’s fastest half mile”, which hosts NASCAR and various other racing events. The complex includes the Bristol Dragway, nicknamed “Thunder Valley”, referencing the hills that echo the engine noise back toward the crowd.
30 Year Old Software On 9407-515 With 100 Users
Bristol has relied on Bright and Associates Municipality Software for 30 years. Their 9407-515 supports up to 100 users. Functionalities include land records, tax records, financial planning, and permitting
Unreliable, Intermittent Backups
“We were concerned about the reliability of our aging 9407-515,” explains Bristol’s IT
Manager, Rick Belcher. “Our server backup was SLR60 QIC tape which we could not rely on.
Our backups were running intermittently at night. The cost of tape cleaners was $560 each … if you could find one. They used to be $100.”
New Server Search Begins
“We started pricing a new server in 2015 from a couple of vendors we had dealt with before. The prices were fairly large for what you get. We got prices around $55,000 for the box and the IBM support. We felt that was expensive.”
Bristol Location Vulnerable To Disasters
“We were concerned about disasters that could disrupt our operation. We are vulnerable to tornedos. We are also concerned about train derailments. The Norfolk Southern Railway has trains that pass hourly just across the road from us.
“We were saddled that all that information would be right here in city hall. We would still not be able to back this up in a secure location regardless of what we spent on the actual box.”
Cloud Hosting Suggested – SDP Recommended
“We decided to look into cloud hosting for our IBM i applications to avoid a big up-front cost, get newer, reliable technology with better performance, and better security and safety from potential disaster.
“As we shopped around for hosting providers, I got a really good recommendation for Cloud400 from our IT consultant, Eric Morrow.”
Cloud400 Stands Out – Price, Accessibility, AND Free 60 Day Trial
“Several factors about Cloud400 stood out,” Rick shares. “First, Cloud400 offered the best price. Price is not everything, but it is good to know it was competitive. Second, I found it was easy to get a hold of anyone on the Cloud400 team. If I picked up the phone or sent an email I would get an almost immediate response from any member of the Cloud400 team. And, with good answers. This is really different than what I experienced from so many other IT providers.
“Third, and this is what really got me, Cloud400 offers a free 60-day trial for us to test our system. The other hosting provider we spoke to did not offer anything like this. This free trial made it easy for my users. It helped me deal with my software provider who did not think IBM i cloud hosting could work.”
Painless Setup And Testing Process
“Once we made the decision to test Cloud400, the process was actually pretty painless. We have a few cloud services right now, but nothing as user intensive as our IBM i applications. Most of our cloud hosting is file server which is all pretty simple and browser-based, that sort of thing.
“Frankly, I was trepidatious about giving our users a similar experience with hosting and the complexities involved. After all, this was our critical system with our critical data that had to be HIPAA compliant. We also have to provide daily access for our software provider. We need to have secure connections to the Virginia DMV and the Supreme Court.
“Despite my trepidations, I was surprised how easy the Cloud400 team made the setup. Our IBM i LPAR test environment was setup in a few hours.”
Cloud400 Specialists Very Friendly, Knowledgeable
“I found working with the Cloud400 team was fantastic. Bob Hall and Brett were personable and extremely knowledgeable. When we initially determined we needed a little more memory, Brett easily made the change for us.
“The Cloud400 network specialist, Bob Hall, was terrific. Very friendly and knowledgeable. I have a background in Cisco. Bristol, on the other hand, uses Juniper appliances. Juniper works a little different than Cisco. Bob Hall easily got the VPNs all hooked up so we could start testing. I was really impressed how easily the VPN connections got set up.”
Bristol Team Sold Instantly
Rick continues, “For testing, I selected a few department heads to test our applications. I challenged them to run the reports and processes that took the longest on our current system. The stuff that frustrated them. I wanted them to experience the Cloud400 response time. Almost instantly I convinced everyone with one report that this was a good idea. As our Treasurer told me, she would test an advanced query for cigarette taxes for the previous year that takes 5-10 minutes to run. As she hit enter and before she finished talking, the report came back completed. That was FAST! Yeah, she was sold instantly.
“Our CFO probably uses the system the most of any other user. She tested Cloud400 the most. She wanted to make sure it would go day after day, functioning the same way.”
Rick Counters Bristol Internet Fear
“The biggest fear I would encounter when explaining the cloud was ‘What if the internet goes out?’ My answer to them was: 1) you are already connected by internet to our data center and if the internet goes out now you don’t have AS400, so there is virtually no difference in connectivity to what we have now and Cloud400, and 2) how many times in the last year have we actually been down because of the internet and the answer was once… for about a minute and a half.”
Cache Battery Fails 1 Day Before Go Live
“The day before we were scheduled to go live on Cloud400, our 9407-515 cache battery failed. The system speed was down by I guess 75%. We started the Save21 at 4 o’clock. Instead of taking a few hours it finished at 11:00PM. That completely eliminated getting the Save21 tape to Cloud400 by next day noon for scheduled go live setup.
“So, I decided to fly to Minneapolis on the scheduled Saturday with the Save21 tape. Brett picked me up at the airport and gave me the quick tour of Minneapolis. We had noodles at Mall of America and talked about motorcycles. It turns out that we are both Triumph riders; he rides a Thunderbird and I ride a Bonneville. I thought Brett was above and beyond.”
Cloud400 Definitely Best Choice
“Considering the sensitivity and importance of the data, and how critical the software is to our city’s day-to-day operations, it is definitely an added benefit having picked Cloud400. While the transition to Cloud400 was completely invisible to the users, what the users know is that their jobs run faster. Those in the know – the City Manager, Commissioner of Revenue, the Treasurer, and the CFO – have been all very impressed.”
Rick Belcher Recommends Cloud400
“I would recommend Cloud400,” says Rick. “I already have. I am beyond happy with it and so is anyone in our establishment that has any working knowledge of what we have been doing.
“Cloud400 is a good idea. It is a good alternative to a new server. Cloud400 has expert IBM i support. Any Cloud400 team members get back much faster than any of our other IT vendors we work with. It runs much faster than our current server. Cloud400 offers better security and backup than what we had. Cloud400 adds an extra layer of physical security to protect us in the event of tornedoes or train derailments. If we did encounter some form of natural disaster, with Cloud400 we could be back online the next day.”