Combined Storage Solution Delivers Reliability

Performance and availability. Two very important words in the vocabulary of Lisa Hayes, vice president of Air Conditioning Specialists (ACS) of Covington, GA. ACS provides commercial and residential heating and air conditioning solutions. As the company grew, Hayes noticed that work time was being wasted waiting for the in-house server. ACS was running an Altos 2000 386 with dumb terminals.

Looking For A Storage Solution
Hayes turned to FACS Management, a company that specializes in the development of software to make office management more efficient and profitable in the service industry, specifically heating, ventilation and air conditioning. After conversations with systems integrators Bob Mauti and Don Bartle of FACS, Hayes decided ACS should upgrade to a new product release from Computer Support of Sioux City/War Eagle Systems® called the Failure Resistant Data System.

Designing The Solution
Mauti and Bartle helped outline the configuration they believed would allow for a simple transition from ASC's Altos system. At the same time, Harry Kearins, president of Computer Support of Sioux City/War Eagle Systems, was searching for a mirrored SCSI controller that would run the company's O/S effectively. After spending some time on the Internet, Kearins found the ICP vortex Web site, and more specifically the GDT6117RP PCI to SCSI Ultra and Wide RAID controller.

The company completed thorough tests of the ISP controller and was pleased with what was found. With the specifications of this controller in mind the company then developed the Failure Resistant Data System (FRDS-2®). This new product paired CPU technology with a mirroring controller. Kearins felt that this would allow his customers the highest performing, most reliable system at the lowest cost possible.

Components In The Solution
The recommended system incorporates an Intel Pentium® II 233MHz processor with MMX technology with ample memory and mirrored hard drives. Also, the server comes with SCO Doctor®, a system-monitoring package, pre-loaded and configured. SCO Doctor constantly monitors the internal processes of the server and provides alerts of impending problems.

According to Kearins, "On-site support is the biggest unresolved issue in the server industry today. If an on-site service company can get troubled hardware working promptly, you can count yourself fortunate," Kearins says. "In our mind, that left only one realistic choice - we needed to eliminate the need for immediate on-site support."

System Protects Against Downtime
With the help of ICP vortex's GDT611RP PCI to SCSI Ultra and Wide RAID controller, the War Eagle FRDS-2 Server protects against long downtimes in the event of a catastrophic event. The integration of failure resistant hardware, system monitoring and reporting, solid backup procedures, combined with a fulfillment program has allowed ACS to operate without the need for support.

FACS Management just completed the installation of the new server for ASC. Hayes says the company cannot believe the difference in speed and performance.