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Home My WebLink AboutRESOLUTION 2003-50SUBSTITUTE Suggested by: Administration City of Kenai RESOLUTION NO. 2003-50 A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA TRANSFERRING $54,000 IN THE GENERAL FUND FOR A LIBRARY COMPUTER SYSTEM. WHEREAS, Dynix has notified the City of Kenai that the operating software on the computer that runs the library system will not be supported under a maintenance contract after March 2004; and, WHEREAS, it is the recommendation of the librarian to continue with Dynix software and support; and, WHEREAS, the Dyn~ quote is $53,770; and, WHEREAS, $54,000 previously appropriated for transfers to Capital Projects funds are available in the Non-Departmental Transfers account; and, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, that the following budget transfers be made' Non-Departmental From' Transfers $54,000 To: Library- Machinery & Equipment $54,000 PASSED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, this third day of December, 2003. ~ ~ ~~ ~. ~~~)~H~qff~I~AM S, MAYO R 'i 'She Padilla, Acting City Clerk · i Approved by Finance: '~ (11 / 25 / 2003) hl - ~ Memorandum To: From: Date: Subject: Linda Snow, City Manager Larry Semmens, Finance Director November 24, 2003 Library Computer I have done extensive research on the stares of the library RS6000 computer. The City purchased the system in FY 1996 and 1997 from Dynix (previously Ameritech) Corporation. Dynix has provided hardware and software maintenance on the system at a cost of approximately $16,000 annually. The library received an 'end of life' notice earlier this year indicating that a portion of the operating system software would not be supported after March 31, 2003. Consequently, Dynix will not renew the operating system software support agreement. Instead they offer to provide software support on a 'best efforts basis' for $200/hour plus materials cost. Therefore it is difficult to estimate the cost of the operating system support; however, we must assume that it would be more expensive than the maintenance contract. We could also purchase hardware and software support directly from IBM. This would require upgrade to a supported operating system, namely AIX 5.1. Dynix does not recommend running their product on AIX 5.1 because it is unstable on that operating system. If we take this option, against their recommendation, we would need to pay Dynix approximately $3,500 for conversion. Unfortunately we are not able to purchase software support for AIX 4.3 from IBM. If we choose to do nothing at this time, Dynix recommends staying on the unsupported version, AIX 4.3, that we are currently on and taking our chances with their 'best efforts' software support. There is no doubt that the library will be forced to purchase a new software system in the near furore, most likely within two years. It is possible to continue on the existing system until an irresolvable situation arises due to the out of date operating system. If the system fails, the library could be without a computer system for up to six months waiting for delivery of a new system. There could be difficulties converting the data if the existing system fails prior to purchasing a replacement system. There are several options for replacing the system. The best option is to purchase the new Horizon package that Dynix has developed to replace the current version we are on. The attached schedule shows costs for two options. The first is purchasing the new Horizon system now. The second is staying on the current system for two years. The analysis shows that over a 5 year period the City would save over $13,000 by upgrading BOW. I am of the opinion that it is best to upgrade the system now. To continue with the existing system exposes the library to risks that could be difficult and expensive to remedy. ~enal community Llorary Page 1 o1'2 Linda Snow From: Ewa Jankowska Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 ~2:06 PM To' Linda Snow; Larry Semmens Subject' dynix memo.doc KENAI COMMUNITY LIBRARY DATE: TO: TO: FROM: RE: 11/20/2003 LINDA L. SNOW LARRY SEMMENS EWA JANKOWSI~ DYNIX SERVER Attached you will fred several quotes that I was able to receive from Dynix. We have several options, but going all the way to Horizon, a new system seems to be most prudent and cost effective in the long run. I was able to get a really large discount on the first 4 years of maintenance that is much lower than what we pay right now anyway. We can get the first year totally free and 10% off for the year 2, 3 and 4 if we sign the HORIZON contract before December 20, 2003. Option 1' Do nothing- it's very risky; Dynix offers $200/hour support and Larry also talked to IBM about yearly support. It would be very difficult, however, to coordinate hardware support with the software vendor by ourselves. Also it may be very, very expensive - the restoration of the database may cost up to $2500 plus parts and hourly service. This is what I heard from Dynix: "In the event that you continue to use the existing IBM server once it's "out of manufacture support date" or EeL date hits (March 31, 2004), it could cost between $1000 - $2500 for labor to restore the server and possibly that same amount in addition if a disk drive fails or other hardware fails. The library may risk being down until a refurbished part is located". This is also just delaying the inevitable and we may be losing money in the long mn. Dynix will not develop DYNIX CLASSIC anymore and instead will devote their efforts to develop HORIZON, their newer graphic database. They are offering incentives to libraries to switch to the new system as soon as possible. In our case it also coincides with the need for new hardware. Option 2: Replace the old server with a new one that runs on UNIX (AIX). It is a very expensive option. We could probably keep it and switch to Horizon eventually. It might not be economically viable though, because when we are forced to go with Horizon it might be much more expensive and we would not get the discounts we are getting now. We will also pay much more annually for licensing and maintenance. Option 3: Replace old server with a much cheaper Dell, but then we would have to transfer the Dynix system to Windows 2000 - again expensive and also temporary. 11/24/2003 r,,.cnal %ommunlty L1 orary Page 2 oi'2 Option 4: Get a new server, go with the new system and take advantage of all the discounts that are offered to us if we do it this year! Cost comparison: Option HORIZON -New Server, new system (DYNIX CLASSIC to HORIZON) with large discounts if we sign contract before December 20, 2003 NEW SERVER Stay with the same software and buy a new server that can run on AIX (UNIX) Operating System (HP Enterprise rp2470 server) NEW SERVER and WINDOWS 2000 Operating System (Dell PowerEdge 2600) Stay with DYNIX CLASSIC Cost $53,770 cost without discounts $64,345 $48,320 $33,530 Annual maintenance None the first year 10% discount for year 2,3,4 9,751 /year after that 4 years of maintenance $26,328 4 years cost saving if we go with HORIZON $18,221 ($10,7i4 for software licenses and 7,507 for OS and hardware maintenance of a new server) $17,077 ($10,714 for Dynix system software licenses and $6,363 for OS and server hardware maintenance) $72,884 $68,308 +$46,556 +$41,980 11/24/2003