As many smaller businesses can probably relate, our data center consisted of several servers in a closet. We needed to get our IT out of the closet and into new space that was not susceptible to flooding or above a boiler room.
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (PRWEB) December 12, 2013
VISI Inc. announced today they have signed a multi-year contract with Minneapolis-based Dunwoody College of Technology. The 100-year-old private, technical college is contracting with VISI for ReliaCloud™ service at the company’s Tier III data center in Eden Prairie, Minn.
According to Mark Anderson, manager of IT operations at Dunwoody, the college needed to replace its current data center. He said, “As many smaller businesses can probably relate, our data center consisted of several servers in a closet. We needed to get our IT out of the closet and into new space that was not susceptible to flooding or above a boiler room.”
Terry Swanson, CEO of VISI said, “We’re proud to ensure Dunwoody has a safe and secure place for their IT. Caring for the back-end IT work is our specialty. And it allows the college’s IT team an opportunity to focus on more strategic endeavors those that can deliver a great education for their student body.”
Anderson estimated it would cost about $1 million for the school to move their current IT infrastructure, make the necessary upgrades, and maintain it. Facing this challenge, Anderson and his colleague Chad Strunk, manager of IT systems development, started researching other options.
“When we toured VISI’s data center, there was no comparison,” Anderson said. “They have multiple power sources and redundancy. They have biometrics security and experts monitoring, maintaining and managing customer data 24x7x365.”
Moving to an IaaS service, like VISI’s ReliaCloud, also provides Dunwoody the opportunity to reallocate their budget. “From an accounting perspective, we could move our IT budget from a major capital investment to an operating expense,” Anderson said. “It just makes budgeting a lot easier.”
He also noted that moving to VISI’s data center provides the school a chance to lower their risk. “We have great employees, but we’re not staffed to manage or maintain a data center 24x7,” said Anderson. “And our limited security measures were of great concern. Moving to VISI alleviates nearly all of our security risks. Plus we can scale up or down as needed.”
VISI, a division of TDS Hosted & Managed Services, LLC (TDS HMS), offers a comprehensive suite of products and services, including: colocation, managed services, hosted services, and ReliaCloud cloud computing infrastructure for small- to enterprise-sized businesses throughout the Midwest. Through its sister company, Vital Support Systems, VISI also sells, installs, and manages IT infrastructure solutions from world-class hardware and software vendors such as Cisco, EMC, Hewlett Packard, VMware, Microsoft, and Citrix.
Learn more about Dunwoody College of Technology and VISI.
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For more information contact: Cindy Tomlinson, Associate Manager - Public Relations / TDS HMS / 608-664-4471 / cindy(dot)tomlinson(at)tdstelecom(dot)com
About Dunwoody
Founded in 1914, Dunwoody College of Technology is the only private, not-for-profit technical college in the Upper Midwest. It has provided a hands-on, applied technical education to more than 250,000 men and women, who in turn have gone on to meaningful and rewarding careers.
About VISI Inc.
Founded in 1994, VISI is a premier provider of data center solutions in the upper Midwest, including: colocation, managed services, hosted services, and cloud computing infrastructure to companies ranging in size from small to enterprise. VISI facilities are built to Tier 3 standards, SSAE 16 audited and staffed 24x7. VISI, located in Minnesota, joined TDS Hosted & Managed Services, LLC (TDS HMS) in March 2010.
TDS Hosted & Managed Services, LLC (TDS HMS) is the parent company of OneNeck® IT Services Corp., Vital Support Systems, VISI Incorporated, and MSN Communications, Inc. TDS HMS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems Inc., is growing rapidly and now employs about 650 people throughout the U.S. TDS HMS companies specialize in engineering and management of IT infrastructure, including: hosted application management, managed hosting, and ReliaCloud™ enterprise cloud services. TDS HMS owns and operates four Tier 3 data centers in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and manages two Tier 2 data centers in Arizona. Visit oneneck.com, vitalsite.com, visi.com, msncomm.com and reliacloud.com for more information.
Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. [NYSE: TDS], a Fortune 500® company, provides wireless; cable and wireline broadband, TV and voice; and hosted and managed services to approximately six million customers nationwide through its business units, TDS Telecommunications Corp., U.S. Cellular®, TDS HMS, and TDS Baja Broadband LLC. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, TDS employs 10,700 people. For investment information, visit teldta.com.