Explanation
BACKGROUND:
This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Technology (DoT), to enter into contract with the OARnet/OSU, for the purchase of VMware software licenses, services and training. The agreement to purchase the required software licenses, training, and services will provide a recovery platform in case of any outage at the primary data center, provide software to establish lower cost database platforms, and establish a virtual desktop platform to better utilize existing desktop computing resources within the City.
The Department of Technology has identified a need to expand the virtualization platform it has built its data infrastructure on, to include disaster recovery, database, and desktop computing platforms. The Data Center/Disaster Recovery Site project is ready for the addition of hardware and software to bring information systems online in that facility. Purchase of the software licenses will provide a platform for faster recovery and higher availability of critical data system in the event of an outage at the primary facility.
Server virtualization has been adopted by the Department of Technology to reduce the costs of data systems, reduce power consumption and cooling requirements, and provide further capabilities for recovery and availability of information systems. The initial phase of the virtualization project was completed in 2009. Expansion of this platform will allow the Department of Technology to further reduce costs of software licensing and hardware purchases, and through power consumption savings.
This ordinance also requests to waive the competitive bidding provisions in accordance with section 329 of the Columbus City Code. This purchase with OARnet is from the State of Ohio Virtualization Program for $170,831.43 and is a critical part of DoT's capital project for virtualization. OARnet pricing discounts for VMWare software are greater than can be achieved through the bid process.
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