United States Postal Service Solution

Itroduction

The United States Postal Service is a governmental agency with numerous departments and over 700,000 employees nationwide. Our goal is to find a technical solution design that will meet the United States Postal Service's desire to go "paperless" throughout the organization. Currently, file cabinets and hard copies of documents are used for storage and retrieval. There is no pre-existing system of this type. The hardware and software presented is for start up. As the use of the system expands, we may add additional hardware and software as needed.

This document discusses the United States Postal Service's wants and needs for a solution design in an attempt to go paperless. We will discuss and present our recommendations through documentation for requirements, management, validation and deployment of new Data software and hardware implementation needed for the success of such a system. The biggest challenge our technical design may face when introducing new solutions is proving the benefits of moving to a more effective and synchronized process. Through our research we will touch on several possibilities at our disposal to accomplish this task, while minimizing the impact of downtime and cost with the changeover from the existing system to the best remote office management system available within our budget.

Server Solution

Researching the current problem has led to several possible solutions, one being adding a high speed server to the organization. The IBM System x3200 series offers many great benefits that will surely help UPS reduce the amount of hard copy files that are currently kept on hand. This system ranges in price starting from $750 all the way up to $2250, depending on the available upgrades and preferences to suit the business needs. The IBM System x 3200 series run at lower power levels and run cooler than other systems in its class, which will also help the company by saving money on the power bill. This system is has a built in power supply back-up which automatically turns on in the event of power loss or system failure, to ensure the safe keeping of files and other important data. There are many upgrades that are available for the IBM System x3200 series that offer added security for the organization. Another great benefit with all the upgrades is the availability to scale up or scale out if the number of files contained becomes larger than expected or if UPS brings on several new users to the system. To help ensure the safe keeping of data files the IBM System x3200 series comes with standard hardware RAID-0, with the option to upgrade to a tape back- up system if need be.

Reason why IBM x was chosen over applications

* This simplifies our infrastructure

* Reduces complexity and management requirements

* Has ability to create multiple virtual servers on a single machine

* Greater flexibility and reduce cost

* Virtualization allows improved application performance

* Improved Data management when running high vol. transaction processes.

This chart shows a comparison of IBM x servers compared to other serves according to (Consumer Report) IBM HP Dell Sun

Intel® Xeon® processor-based server scalable above 4-sockets

System x3950 scales to 16-sockets, 64 cores -- -- --

Three levels of memory protection with IBM Active Memory™ technology

System x3850 M2,

System x3800,

System x3950 -- -- --

AMD processor-based 4-socket server able to support a 3-CPU configuration

System x3755 -- -- --

IBM Xcelerated Memory Technology™

System x3755,

System x3455 -- -- --

IBM eXtended I/O™

System x3655,

System x3455 -- -- --

IBM Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA)

Tool that can provide up to 48 hours notice that a component may fail. Select models feature PFA on memory, hard disk drives, CPUs, fans, blowers and voltage regulator modules Hard disk drives, memory, CPU Hard disk drives, memory --

IBM Light path diagnostics

Provides easy notification and identification of a failed component, via an externally visible panel - even if the power is off Insight Display -- --

IBM Virtualization Manager

HP charges clients for the capability1

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