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| ARF- 3931 |
Regular Agenda Item 3. K.
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| Regular BOS Meeting |
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| Information |
| Request/Subject |
| Contract with Dell Financial Services, LLC to purchase replacement Dell server hardware and VMWare software licensing over a 5 year term. |
| Background Information |
The County maintains more than 85 virtual servers on an aging hardware platform of 5 physical servers and 2 storage arrays that are interconnected to share resources. This is the first generation of the County VMWare platform, which started with 2 servers and 1 storage array almost 6 years ago. By adding 3 additional servers and 1 additional storage array over the last 5 years, it has allowed the County to expand its digital needs to the current size. In this time, the County has grown considerably from an estimated 15 original virtual servers and has almost outstripped the resources available across that environment. The age of the storage arrays and the first servers are now liabilities as it is hard to find replacement parts and some parts of the environment are outside of warranty and considered end of life by the manufacturer. In an effort to meet the scalable needs of the County, the I.T. Department has received hardware quotes and software licensing quotes through approved Arizona State Contract vendors.
Also currently, the County does not have a true method of Disaster Recovery for its stored digital data. The County has relied on retrieving the information through data backups, and while this has worked successfully in the past, it is not the recommended method of securing data in the event of a disaster. To this end, the provided quotes contain enough hardware and licensing to duplicate the VMWare environment, as well as special software to replicate the data from our County data facility to an offsite location away from the Main Data Facility. This will allow us to achieve true Disaster Recovery for data and satisfy the State of Arizona, which recommends having a disaster recovery scenario. |
| Evaluation |
To meet the future needs of the County, staff believes that we need considerably more storage space in the new equipment, as well as increased size in memory and processors to drive the virtual servers. As the County adds more virtual machines, they also grow in complexity and require many more resources than older, smaller systems. This is especially true of storage space, as newer operating systems and enterprise-class programs can have a much larger footprint and need more dedicated space. The new equipment will provide the County with more than 5 times the current storage (going from about 20TB of storage to more than 100TB), as well as 3 times the memory, going from 512GB of memory to 1536GB of memory.
Through protracted discussions and evaluations of 3 different hardware platforms, staff feels that continuing with a Dell hardware-based solution is still in the best interests of the County. We believe the hardware will integrate better and Dell pricing is also better in both the hardware and licensing quotes, compared to other vendors. They are also offering a 0% (Zero) lease agreement over 5 years to assist the County with affordability. |
| Conclusion |
| The purchase of the recommended hardware and software licensing would provide at least 5 more years of supported service through Dell, on a proven hardware platform. It should also be more than sufficient for the expected growth of County data in that duration. The Tax Exempt Lease Purchase (TELP) agreement with Dell Financial Services will allow the County to pay for this equipment through an affordable 5 year program with no cost (0%) financing. |
| Recommendation |
| The Information Technology Director recommends that the Board of Supervisors approve the purchase of the replacement hardware, upgraded software licenses and associated professional services through a lease to purchase agreement provided by Dell Financial Services, LLC. |
| Suggested Motion |
| Information/Discussion/Action to approve Master Lease Agreement No. 107446102-19308 between Dell Financial Services, L.L.C. and Gila County in the amount of $453,835.77 to purchase replacement Dell server hardware and associated VMWare software licensing at 0% interest rate over a period of five years, from September 6, 2016, through September 5, 2021. (Kelly Riggs) |
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