EMDC is a non-profit organization established in 1967 that works to advance economic growth and opportunities for the six Eastern Counties of Maine: Hancock, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo, and Washington. Based in Bangor, it works to encourage the partnership and collaboration that fosters a thriving regional economic climate.
EMDC has grown rapidly during the past several years, and has more than tripled its staff to its current roster of 70 employees. To support the growth, it needed to upgrade its computer servers and network switching equipment. “We had been patching things together, and were at a point where we had to make a move,” says Gene Smith, director of administration for EMDC.
EMDC’s IT team worked with in collaboration with WGTECH, the IT solutions partner it has worked closely with since 1999, to deploy a fault-tolerant, high-availability VMware cluster with a new switch infrastructure. This solution enabled it to retire its aging equipment and improve access for all employees, including remote and traveling staff.
The solution includes:
- A NetApp storage area network, which optimizes storage space through thin provisioning and reduces duplicate data while simplifying management across heterogeneous environments.
- A VMware cluster that enables EMDC to improve the efficiency and availability of its IT resources and applications through virtualization.
- A Barracuda 390 archiving solution to back up data and files.
Key to its ability to deploy the solution was a vendor leasing program that WGTECH negotiated for EMDC. The solution was financed for three years, enabling EMDC to install the equipment affordably and quickly. “The solution was very, very cost effective,” says Smith. “WGTECH went to bat for us.”
The new solution has improved speed and responsiveness for EMDC, while offering reliable remote access for traveling staff. In addition, the new servers have reduced the ongoing maintenance required from EMDC. “This solution is maintenance-free,” says Smith. “We’re not in there every day fixing a problem, so we can focus on other, more important issues.”
“WGTECH put together a good, state-of-the-art solution,” says Smith.