Committee approves IT infrastructure contracts, including $2M data-center phase and multi-year software agreements
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Summary
Ottawa County’s committee approved several network and software contracts — a $1.998 million phase-two data center refresh with People Driven Technologies, router and switch refreshes with Sentinel Technologies, and a five-year PowerDMS contract — prompting discussion about VMware licensing costs and vendor choices.
The Finance and Administration Committee voted to forward multiple IT infrastructure contracts to the Board of Commissioners, including a $1,998,156 contract for phase two of the county’s data-center refresh and separate contracts to refresh network switches and routers and to consolidate PowerDMS licensing.
The most expensive item, a phase-two data-center refresh with People Driven Technologies, was discussed at length. The committee voted to forward the People Driven Technologies contract for phase two of the data center refresh, with Commissioner discussion focused on cost drivers, vendor selection and software licensing costs tied to VMware.
Why it matters: the refresh is part of a multi-year capital plan to modernize Ottawa County’s core IT infrastructure; the data-center work and associated software licensing are capital investments that affect county operations and recurring licensing costs.
The committee also approved a contract with Sentinel Technologies for configuration and installation of approximately 57 Cisco network switches, at a cost of $273,428.28, and a separate Sentinel contract for router and voice gateway configuration and installation at a cost of $144,012.14. The switch refresh will replace equipment on roughly a seven-year cycle and includes professional services for installations where downtime must be minimized (for example, at the jail). The router/voice gateway work will convert voice systems from analog to digital.
Sheriff’s office and public-safety training featured in the PowerDMS discussion. The committee approved a five-year consolidation contract with PowerDMS at a total cost of $160,082.63. The sheriff’s office explained that PowerDMS consolidates training records, field-training systems and supports accreditation preparation.
Commissioners questioned the data-center cost and the impact of Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware on licensing. One commissioner asked whether tariff changes affecting equipment costs had been included; staff said the presented cost “does not include any tariff increases.” Staff also explained that VMware licensing changed after Broadcom’s acquisition and noted significant price increases tied to licensing-per-socket or similar terms. The committee discussed alternative virtualization platforms (e.g., VxRail, Hyper-V) but staff recommended continuing with VMware as the most stable option for the county’s needs.
Votes: Committee roll-call votes approved forwarding the PowerDMS five-year contract ($160,082.63), the Sentinel switch contract ($273,428.28), the Sentinel router/voice gateway contract ($144,012.14) and the People Driven Technologies data-center phase-two contract ($1,998,156).
Next steps: Staff said acquisition timelines would move quickly after board approval — equipment orders would be placed and installations scheduled. Commissioners asked staff to identify funding sources within the capital improvement plan; staff confirmed the capital plan contains funding to support the data-center refresh.
Ending: The committee forwarded the IT contracts to the full board for approval and asked staff to continue to brief the committee on implementation timelines and licensing-cost implications.
