With the constant pressure to reduce the costs and risks associated with deploying new technology, organizations are finding it more and more challenging to implement IT solutions that truly meet their business needs. These challenges along with the increasing volume and importance of IT initiatives require today’s Information Technology departments to architect infrastructure solutions in aggressive timeframes with little or no room for error.

Vicom has teamed with IBM® to open our Business Partner Innovation Center (BPIC) which showcases complete infrastructure and software solutions in a diverse computing environment. Vicom’s Innovation Center offers our customers a risk-free environment in which to develop, test and validate solutions based on the latest technologies in the marketplace. The Innovation Center contains over $1.6 million of the latest IBM infrastructure equipment and more importantly a staff of architects, engineers and presenters to allow our customers to select or design the right architecture for virtually any IT project.

Vicom’s Innovation Center is available to our customers for:

Product/Solution Briefings:
Learn about the latest IBM and infrastructure solutions in an environment where products and solutions can be demonstrated and viewed while being presented. This allows our customers to not only learn about products and solutions but see the equipment perform in a real world IT environment.

Proof of Concept:
Vicom’s staff of engineers can help you test and validate a solution before your organization commits to a full scale implementation. This allows you to see how the proposed solution will perform before incurring the full risk of implementing the project.

Technical University:
Vicom utilizes our Innovation Center to provide our customers with a center for training and knowledge transfer of solutions that we have implemented. Vicom’s Innovation Center has the latest technology on-site as well as the most advanced presentation capabilities available.

Architecture “Whiteboard” Workshops:
Vicom has been incorporated since 1982 and has implemented hundreds of mission critical infrastructure solutions for our customers. This vast experience plus our constant training and knowledge of best practices in the industry gives us the ability to effectively architect an infrastructure solution for virtually any requirement. Vicom has a staff of certified infrastructure architects and engineers who conduct “Architecture Workshops” to assist our customers with their IT architecture needs whether it is for a single project or for your entire enterprise.

Porting and Migration Lab:
Our Lab can be utilized to test and validate ported code from HP-UX/Solaris to IBM AIX or Linux. Vicom also has partnered with some of the top migration firms and consultants in the industry to give our customers the best advice, most options and freedom when determining which operating systems will meet the current and future needs of your enterprise.

Solution Specialties:
Vicom’s Information Technology Architects and Engineers are highly trained and certified to provide solutions in the following practices:

Server Consolidation Initiatives Server Virtualization Technologies Server Management and Provisioning Technology Enterprise Backup Strategies SAN Design and Consultation Storage Consolidation Storage Virtualization and Management Data Protection and Retention Data Regulatory and Compliance Information Lifecycle Solutions Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Solutions

High Availability Solutions Database Consolidation Email and Collaboration Solutions Citrix Access Solutions Microsoft Infrastructure Solutions Linux strategies and solutions High Performance Computing Systems

Selecting the best partners to enable IT to meet the demanding needs of business:

Vicom and IBM have partnered with the best of breed providers to offer infrastructure solutions that offer unique value to our customers. Our architects and engineers consistently evaluate and monitor industry solutions in any of our specialties to ensure we are offering our customers the best solutions in the industry.

Some of our partners include:

IBM Hardware in the Innovation Center:

Vicom’s Innovation Center (BPIC) is an environment that is continually refreshed with the latest technology to give you state of the art choices. The products in the Innovation Center currently include:

• IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC)
• IBM System Storage DS4800 Modular Enterprise Storage System
• IBM System Storage DS8100 Enterprise Storage System
• IBM System Storage NetApp N5200 Network Storage System
• IBM 3583 Gen 3 LTO Tape Library – 72 Slots
• IBM/Brocade 4GB SAN Fabric
• IBM/McDATA 4GB SAN Fabric
• IBM System p5 570+ – Power 5
• IBM System p5 520 – Power 5
• IBM OpenPower 720 and IBM OpenPower 710
• IBM System x3950 – 8 Way Scalable Intel Server
• IBM BladeCenter Chassis with Integrated Infrastructure
• IBM BladeCenter H Chassis with Integrated Infrastructure
• Latest IBM Blades including Intel, AMD and Power Blades
• Various Sun and HP Servers for Interoperability testing.
• Various Lenovo/IBM ThinkPad and ThinkCentre Desktops demonstrating ThinkVantage Solutions
• Other IBM Technologies can be brought in upon request for testing and evaluation
• Competitive equipment for non-partial evaluations

Benefits of the Innovation Center to your organization:

• State of the art technology
• Local NY Metro facility for new product demonstrations and presentations
• Reduced risk and exposure
• Save time and investment when conducting proofs of concept
• Assistance from recognized industry experts
• Multi-vendor environment to ensure new technologies will fit in your enterprise
• Validation of complex environments to ensure systems compatibility
• No disruption to production for testing, code evaluation and skills building

For more information on how Vicom’s Innovation Center can help your organization or to schedule a visit please contact InnovationCenter@vicomnet.com or call 631.694.3900.