Agenda - 04-01-2008-4h - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 1, 2008 Action Agenda Item No. ~- - ~ SUBJECT: Bid Award: Tape Backup System Replacement DEPARTMENT: Information Technologies, Purchasing PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): Tabulation INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd Jones, 245-2285 Pam Jones, 245-2652 PURPOSE: To purchase a new tape backup system to replace the County's aging tape backup system. BACKGROUND: Since the adoption of computer systems in the 1970s, Orange County has increasingly relied on digital storage of critical County assets to more effectively manage information. This increased reliance on digital storage compels the Information Technologies department to provide offsite archival storage of the County's digital information. By storing archives of County data offsite, Information Technologies can recover data to address a wide range of circumstances, from disaster recovery to the timely restoration of data from an inadvertent file deletion. Nightly copies of server data are stored in a different building from the County server facility and weekly copies are stored outside Orange County using a secure data storage service. In 2002, the County purchased a data backup system that stores nightly copies of all server data to reusable magnetic tape. This system has served the County well and has been the centerpiece of the data retention and recovery strategy, providing a reliable mechanism for storing and retrieving archival data to ensure continuous and persistent availability of all critical digital information. The current backup system needs to be replaced to address two important issues. As is typical of this type of technology, the vendor has declared the aging unit to be beyond its service life. As a result, there is no guarantee of the availability of repair parts and annual service costs are increased to address the increased likelihood of repair. Secondly, the growth of County data has averaged an increase of approximately 30% each year. The amount of data has grown to the point of capacity for this backup system. The County needs a backup system which can be expanded to accommodate data growth through the next five to ten years.