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July 28, 2006
To: All Associates of Insulectro, LCOA, and CAC.
I am pleased to announce the following
improvements we have for our computer hardware and networks that you will see
over the next several months. These changes will reduce computer response time
and reduce the risk of computer down time.
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We will be purchasing a new System i5 to host our
ePredator software. (IBM has renamed what used to be called AS/400
again. Several years ago, it was renamed iSeries, and earlier this
year it was renamed System i5.) We anticipate this will be installed
by the end of August. As you know we are experiencing severe response time
issues with our current system. Since we have bought our existing iSeries
three years ago, we have added CAC and significantly increased sales at LCOA and
Insulectro. This increase is putting a large strain on our system. Our new
system has almost double the performance capacity over our existing system.
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We recognize that having our
computing power reside in one facility is risky. Just last week-end major
portions of California experienced long term blackouts (including 30 hours at
my own home.) With that in mind, we will be purchasing a second System
i5 to host our ePredator software that we will install in Bloomingdale IL
(the home of our new Chicago area facility). We will also be doing major
upgrades to our network infrastructure. The two systems will always be
synchronized, and either system can become the “primary” system on less than
15 minutes notice. If one of our systems becomes unavailable, the other
system will then be available for processing. We anticipate this being set up
and operational by November 15. This portion of the project will also include
our external web sites (www.Insulectro.com,
www.LCOA.com,
www.CACProducts.com, and
www.InsulectroExpress.com.)
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E-mail has become a major part of everyone’s life. We also
plan to implement a high availability solution just like the System i5 that
hosts ePredator with a backup system located in Bloomingdale. Our target
completion date is February 2007.
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We have other services like our COMMON drive, our intranet
Prowler, and our PRIVATE folders that we are not designating as critical. We
will continue to backup using traditional means. Even if these services are
not available for a few days, we believe that we can continue to service
customers.
Aun Qadir will continue to update you on
the progress of this project. Everyone in the Information Technology group has
been working hard on the planning and vendor selection process. They will be
putting in long hours over the next few months to make this plan a reality.
They will need to schedule some down time to make all these changes happen. If
you have any questions, please feel free to contact our IT team or myself.
Sincerely,
Dan Diesel
Vice President
INSULECTRO
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