“The Texas Medical Center is home to two medical schools ranked in the top 25 nationally, one of the nation’s premier cancer research centers, two world famous heart institutes and 36 other biomedical- related education and research institutions.  I work with a staff of about 50 individuals who serve more than 25,000 researchers, doctors, students and members of the general public who utilize the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center (HAM-TMC) Library. Recently, we won the APC InfraStruXure Facelift contest and will receive funding for an APC data center upgrade.

“We decided to participate in this APC contest because we recognized we had new requirements at the Library and were considering an upgrade.  So we hoped we’d win!  Our Executive Committee and Board of Directors recognized a fundamental shift in the way libraries need to be managed.  This is a shift away from a facilities-based physical archiving and indexing of information to an electronic access-based information store.  With this change comes the need for 24/7 access to the resources via networks and computing resources.  At the core, these resources require predictable, stable power and cooling to adequately support the end users.

Data Center Needs Revamping
“Our 400 square foot ‘computer room’ was built in 1983 for an IBM mainframe and had power and thermal conditioning appropriate for that particular environment.  The air conditioner actually blows through your hair.  It’s very loud and it’s very awkward to work in the room.  This equipment is showing its age and does not have a place given the new requirements.

“We face a multitude of data center issues.  Space is one of the big constraints.  We’ve had to be able to centralize and pack in a number of servers for the different services.  We’ve also had to evolve and get beyond the general LAN mentality and provide a new suite of internet services.

“To find a solution, I surfed the Web and started to research power solutions, space solutions, engineering solutions, and budgeting.  I was trying to find the best bang for the buck.  I also wanted to find a package where I didn’t have to put together a piece from vendor ‘A’ and another piece from vendor ‘B’; I wanted a company that I could trust to be a partner in my relationship for my computer room.  Because of prior experience, I turned to APC.

Contest Winner Decides to Enter his Name “on a Whim”
“I had worked with APC workstation equipment for more than 10 years and looked for the company’s expertise in power conversion and backup to resolve some of my larger scale issues.  I also attended an InfraStruXure road show that allowed me to learn more about the modular, scalable approach of APC’s data center solutions.

“On a whim we entered the APC InfraStruXure Facelift contest in Currents magazine, not expecting to win, of course.  When we received a call informing us that we won, we were extremely excited.  Funding for libraries has traditionally been limited so this was an unexpected windfall.

“To be honest, I am always skeptical of marketing tactics, such as promotional contests that are aimed retrieving a customer’s personal information with the promise of something that never seems to happen.  But APC put their reputation behind this award and delivered.”