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MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TECHNOLOGIES BOARD
HELD ON
January 10,2006
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The Regular Session of the TECHNOLOGIES BOARD of The Colony, Texas was called
to order at 6:25 p.m. on the 10th of January 2006, in the Planning Conference Room, City
Hall, 6800 MAIN STREET, THE COLONY, TEXAS, with the following Technologies
Board members present:
John Harton
Harshkumar Desai
John Marshall
Jack Turner
With four out of six members present a quorum was established and the following items
were addressed:
11.0 I Call Meeting to Order: 6:25 P.M.
I 2.0 I CITIZEN INPUT
None
1 3.0 I AGENDA ITEMS
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3.1 Welcome and introduce Technologies Board new member, Harshkumar Desai.
(Marshall)
3.2 Review of DataBank Proposal (Marshall)
John Marshall reviewed previous Board discussions about the City's needs for a back up
generator for the City Hall to keep operations going in the event of a power outage. He
said the Board had a concern about maintenance for the proposed generator. He also
reviewed the lack of an off-site location to store the City's data, in event of a fire, for
example. He also mentioned the small size of the server room and the lack of space in
the City Hall to expand it.
The DataBank proposal was reviewed. Mike Lynch was unable to attend but provided
some comments on the DataBank proposal, which were distributed for everyone to
review. He felt the pricing seemed high and had questions about length of the proposed
contract, what is included, and cancellation provisions. John Harton wanted to know how
the data would get to an offsite data center and how often data would be backed up, for
example, once a day or continuously. He said costs to transmit data by the internet are
costly and take several hours, but that it may be the solution. John Harton suggested a
dedicated line from Comcast may be a way to transmit the data by internet to an off-site
location.
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The board also discussed the 3 Terabyte capacity in the proposal and felt it was not a lot
but needed to know from the City how much data they will need to store and if it is
sufficient. They want to know if the City is looking to back up only databases or the
entire data systems, including the fire and police systems.
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John Marshall said the proposal for off-site storage is a good idea and is one component
of other needs for the City, including a back-up generator. Jack Turner said the cost of
$320 a month to monitor the system 24x7 is more cost effective than doing it in-house
and paying IT staff to monitor the systems.
John Marshall said he would like Fred Mobley, IT Manager, to prepare information for
the Board including how data is now backed up, where the City connects to the telephone
grid and include how much space the City needs now and include forecasts for the future
needs of the City. He also wanted to know if the City wants data stored here and
operated here with back up offsite and provide emergency power. Or does the City want
to have a facility offsite and farm out backup to a company like DataBank, if the current
data center has no room to expand. There were also questions about what kind of internet
connection is now used. The Board mentioned the proposal does not include machines,
so what equipment is needed.
There was also a comment that perhaps DataBank is designed mostly to service medium
to large companies and may be too large a company for the City to use. The Board also
asked about tape rotation and how much extra a proposal with daily tape backup is and
whether the company provides storage devices.
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John Marshall explained that Fred should work up specifications to define what the City
needs and get multiple bids. They agreed off-site storage is a part of a solution for the
City. They would like to know what the current backup strategy is. They want to know
about the current data center and what the proposed future needs are. They also wanted
an idea of how much the City is planning to spend on these needs.
3.3 SCADA Network Requirements Update (Marshall)
John Marshall said the specifications for the SCADA System Improvements appear
complete since they cover the issues talked about in previous meetings including the
microwave link and ability to cut over to new radio systems. John Harton also said the
proposal was as previously discussed and has the capacity to add future options and
upgrades. All members agreed.
I 4.0 I ADJOURNMENT
With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:03 P.M.
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ohn Marshall, Chairman
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