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Board hears $748,000 technology upgrade plan for data center, firewall and phones
Summary
District technology director proposed replacing aging servers and phones and upgrading the firewall under the 2022 bond. Bids recommended Sentinel for servers and firewall and RingCentral for phones; total base cost $748,157.05 and with a 10% contingency was presented as approximately $823,000.
Okemos Public Schools technology leaders told trustees the district needs to replace aging servers and storage, upgrade its firewall and modernize the phone system — work proposed to be funded from the 2022 bond.
Tom Isom, the district’s director of media and technology, told the board the current servers and storage are about six years old and out of maintenance. He presented three procurement areas: data center servers and storage, the district firewall and the phone system.
For servers and storage, Isom said the district received bids from Sentinel, Marigold and ITO Solutions and recommended Sentinel, which submitted a turnkey package priced on the agenda at $220,472 that includes licenses, maintenance, implementation and support. On the firewall, Isom said the product is E‑Rate eligible; Sentinel was again recommended after another bidder submitted materially higher pricing and incorrect information.
On the phone system, Isom said many of the physical handsets are 10–11 years old and no longer available from manufacturers. The district solicited proposals from RingCentral, 8x8 and Mitel and recommended RingCentral, a cloud‑based service. Isom said RingCentral’s offer included Sourcewell cooperative contracting, promotional credits and $25,000 worth of free phones as part of the procurement strategy.
Isom presented the combined cost for the three procurements at $748,157.05. With a 10% contingency he presented a planning number “around $823,000.” He said the board will need to take action at the next meeting because vendor prices and promotional credits were guaranteed only through the end of the month; he asked trustees to review the item and to expect an action item on April 28.
Trustees asked for further detail about long‑term cost savings, expected lifespans and disaster recovery. Isom said the district intends to reduce server counts in the new configuration (from six to three) and to place a disaster recovery node at the high school. He said server and firewall equipment are expected to last about five to six years and that physical phones may last seven to 10 years under a cloud system, with most software maintenance covered by vendor contracts for at least five years.
No vote was taken; staff said the item will return as an action item at the April 28 meeting so the district can secure pricing and promotional credits before they expire.
