“Gebhardt and Smith is a Baltimore City legal firm working in appellate, banking, bankruptcy, business, civil litigation, commercial finance, and real estate law.  We represent financial institutions and corporations.  Twenty-five lawyers and staff work to resolve our clients’ legal issues, relying heavily on electronic documentation and communication.

“With case outcomes hanging in the balance, downtime affects not only productivity but morale as well.  Work comes to a halt, clients don’t get answers, and everyone is frustrated.  Downtime could mean lost clients for us, and if applications/systems failed, it could mean the loss of our entire business.

“Our data center enhances the company’s business strategy by providing the tools our people need to do their jobs.  The data center environment is a mix of Windows®, Netware®, and Linux® servers, and the infrastructure includes switches, routers, firewalls, and more.  My challenge is to manage the entire information technology infrastructure, provide ongoing maintenance and proactive support to maximize uptime for our Lawyers and staff.

Making the case for an update
“Our data center was outdated, with disparate power supplies that we needed to consolidate.  With a high density of servers, maintaining a constant climate-controlled environment was an issue as well.  In looking for a solution to our power distribution and climate-control problems, we found the InfraStruXure® solution best fit our needs.

“Simply demonstrating how poor power conditioning can cause data corruption and equipment failure justified the InfraStruXure solution for the partners.  The deciding factor for us was APC’s reputation for reliability and our excellent personal experience with APC in the past.

“The InfraStruXure installation process was far superior and much easier than past installations I have experienced.  With InfraStruXure, we were able to fulfill our power requirement needs immediately.

Saving time and money
“InfraStruXure is now protecting and cooling all our network servers, routers, switches, firewall, backup devices, telephone equipment, and more.  Less downtime and fewer equipment failures keep our clients happy and add value to the firm.  The centrally managed UPS system definitely saves me time.

“From a long-term total-cost-of-ownership perspective, we see a positive return on investment.  More stable power will lead to fewer equipment failures, and InfraStruXure’s modular approach to scalability will enable us to cost-effectively expand to fit our needs.

“As the firm grows, I expect a continuing increase in demand for power.  With InfraStruXure, I’m no longer worried about expanding our power supply.  And with APC’s prompt, courteous, and reliable service, I’m not worried about having the right vendor to partner with.”