Director of Power Systems
For 25 years (since 1987) the City of Farmington has used a mid-range computer system to manage its essential municipal services — fire, police, public works, public transit, library, Indian Center, parks and recreation, and electricity. And they started with an IBM System 38, the only commercial computer with a built-in relational database at that time.
As with all municipalities and organizations, Farmington’s server technology needs continued to change. They grew into an AS/400 and then an IBM Power 6 server. Recently the city was ready for an IBM Power 7 upgrade. And can you say “what a nice surprise!”
Yes, the city expected to increase processing speed and reduce costs. But when they used their system’s accounting software to analyze the improvements, they were amazed that processing speed increased by 33 percent. And that’s not all.
The city experienced these results with the IBM Power 7 upgrade:
- 33% increase in processing speed and throughput
- 50% decrease in monthly lease costs
- Cost savings with the increase in processing power
- Redundancy
- Higher scalability
- More resilient
So, what’s the bottom line? When you are considering an upgrade in technology, keep this in mind. Yes, it will be challenging, but the end result is worth it, and could even be better than expected.
Read the complete case study. Power 7 upgrade case study: City of Farmington and Mainline.