Claremore's IT upgrade nearly complete
BY RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer
Sunday, December 30, 2012
12/30/12 at 5:53 AM
CLAREMORE - When he came on board in January, Claremore Information Technology Director Tim White said he recognized the city's need to upgrade its information systems.
"The city of Claremore, like most municipalities, was in a budget crunch with the economy the way it was," White said.
The City Council freed up $159,500 for IT capital expenditures in the 2012-13 budget, stoked by an additional $129,140 for operational costs, White said.
Now, thanks to across-the-board server replacements, the city is close to completing an IT upgrade of about $114,000, he said.
"The cost of replacing one-for-one was at a level that justified bringing in a virtual server infrastructure as opposed to that one-to-one replacement," White said.
A virtual server is similar to a "cloud" infrastructure in which multiple server operating systems can be run on one piece of hardware, he said. The city has turned on between five and seven new servers, saving the city at least $40,000, White said.
The total cost of the virtualization project, including infrastructure assessment and design, is $114,084.74, White said. The city is reusing some of its older servers as backup.
The Will Rogers Library, 1515 N. Florence Ave., is undergoing a similar tech makeover, budgeting its own funds to replace computers that have been in place four to six years, White said. Eight computers for staff members have been replaced, and the installation of 22 new patron computers will be starting soon, White said.
