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Board approves new server purchase to improve IT redundancy and reduce downtime
Summary
The board approved a Dell server purchase from CDW after IT staff recommended replacing a six-year-old server to gain faster recovery and a multi-year support contract following a ransomware recovery last year.
Kevin, technology staff, told the board the district's current main server is about six years old and that newer hardware would provide faster virtual-server failover and shorter recovery times after hardware faults. He described three Dell-based quotes (Dell direct, Insight, and CDW) with similar specs and recommended a configuration with redundancy and at least a three-year support agreement.
"Servers are kind of like dogs. They age about seven years at a time," Kevin said, arguing a newer unit and warranty service would reduce downtime after hardware failures. After discussion of quotes and support terms, a board member moved to approve the CDW quote at roughly $22,000; the motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote.
Board members said the purchase will be paid from the operations fund and staff will finalize contract terms and service-level details before vendor acceptance. Kevin said the plan includes a shadow/secondary server to provide rapid fallback if the primary fails.
