Congratulations to UCG Client Cleveland Plant and Flower!

Longtime United Computer Group IBM Power Server client Cleveland Plant and Flower is celebrating their 101th anniversary! Founded in 1913 and located in Parma, Ohio, CP&F is one of the largest wholesale distributors of floral products in the United States. 

Kudos to Chuck Macuga, Kevin Priest, and the entire staff at CP&F. We wish you continued success!

Please enjoy their video, courtesy of cleveland.com. 

UCG Business Partner Optimum Solutions Chooses VAULT400 BaaS

United Computer Group, Inc. is pleased to announce that Optimum Solutions has chosen UCG’s VAULT400 BaaS as its backup and DR solution. VAULT400 BaaS provides cloud backup for Optimum’s multiple IBM i servers to ensure quick and reliable backup and restores. Their daily backup time has been cut from hours to minutes. Data backup is automated and encrypted throughout the process with only the user having access to the data.

VAULT400 BaaS was chosen by Dave Waters, Manager of IT Operations for Optimum Solutions, to backup mission-critical engineering development data on the IBM i. 

"Beginning in 2011 we started discussions with UCG on backup and DR solutions. At that time we were testing the waters with various backup methods to move our data from tape. Tape backup had become burdensome, and when we were ready to make the transition in 2014, VAULT400 BaaS was our solution of choice," says Dave. "We did our homework."

As B2B partners, UCG and Optimum Solutions have opened many doors to provide clients with complete HRIS and cloud backup and DR solutions. UCG's IBM i clients have strong support with their strategic partner in making payroll and HR management simple. Optimum Solutions clients have a proven backup and DR solution available to them for IBM i, Windows, VMware and all supported platforms with VAULT400 BaaS.

Cloud backup has become very competitive, but UCG has found their niche business as others have seen their doors shuttered. Focus on the IBM i and Open Systems from 10GB to >100TB coupled with disaster recovery options has proven UCG's strength in the market. 

Optimum Solutions is an industry software leader for Payroll, Human Resources and Time & Attendance. Their successful history in the HRIS software arena has placed them as an Inc. 500 award winner and named them one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S.

Request an Optimum Demo Sign Up For an Optimum Webinar VAULT400 BaaS & DR Proposal

Counting The Cost Of Power8 Systems

By Timothy Prickett Morgan, IT Jungle

"Now that IBM has put the four-core entry Power8 machine in the field to appease the processing and software group needs of a large portion of the IBM i installed base, it seems like now is a good time to finally get the price/performance analysis comparing Power7, Power7+, and Power8 machines out the door. There are many ways to dice and slice this, and I like to go through this methodically, as you all well know.

I have already compared the base system configurations in terms of their feeds, speeds, price, and raw value for dollar based on IBM's Commercial Performance Workload (CPW) online transaction processing benchmark test. These are but crude relative gauges of price/performance, I realize. That is why I also create comparisons that look at the price of raw processing capacity and the IBM i software license and support. That is what I have cooked up for this issue of The Four Hundred, to show you the cost of the inherent processing capacity separate from the system chassis and the memory, storage, and other peripherals that get added into the system. The next thing will be to look at how configured systems stack up using different generations of Power chips running IBM i and then to compare configured Power8 boxes to similarly configured machines equipped with Windows, Linux, and Unix as well as hypervisors and databases like IBM i offers."

Read full article.

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Learn about the new servers that are transforming the way we work. Call us at 800.211.8798 or email info@ucgrp.com to learn more!

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Annemarie Ashcraft Appointed National Account Manager for United Computer Group, Inc.

United Computer Group, Inc. is pleased to announce that Annemarie Ashcraft has joined the UCG management team as National Account Manager to further develop our growing portfolio of regional and national accounts. Annemarie will be responsible for leading sales efforts for UCG’s VAULT400 BaaS, remote hardware disaster recovery, and IBM Power Systems. She will also champion the development of UCG’s Referral Partner Channel for managed services.

Annemarie comes to UCG with a wealth of experience in IBM Power Systems i and p, having spent the last 23 years at Arrow Electronics, a longtime UCG vendor. Annemarie was UCG’s point of contact in her role as Account Manager at Arrow. Upon accepting her new role, Annemarie stated “I am excited to begin a new challenge within UCG and look forward to working with the team to further develop their already impressive product and service offerings. I feel fortunate to be joining a well-respected company that prides itself on delivering top notch technology products and services, and customer service excellence. Having worked with UCG for many years, I feel at home already!”

Annemarie will report directly to James A. Kandrac, President and Founder of United Computer Group, who said “Annemarie’s experience and industry knowledge has already made her a key addition to the UCG family. The increasing demand from our clients led us to look for an experienced, motivated individual who will fit in with our corporate culture and philosophy of providing high quality solutions and exceptional service to fulfill this role.” 

Annemarie graduated from the University of North Texas with a BBA in Strategic Business Management. She lives in Westlake, Ohio with her husband Steve and 17 year old son.

Annmarie can be reached directly at 216.520.5163, toll free at 800.211.8798 ext. 198, or via email at ama@ucgrp.com.

Please join us in welcoming Annemarie to United Computer Group!

UCG Grows BaaS Biz with VAULT400

By Dan Burger, Vice President and Executive Managing Editor, IT Jungle 

Cloud-based backup and recovery services and remote hardware for disaster recovery and high availability continues to attract IBM midrange shops and United Computer Group has become a trusted partner with many of them. Last week, the Cleveland, Ohio-based company announced two more companies that have decided to contract with UCG for what is being referred to as backup as a service, or BaaS.

Carswell, a provider of information services for legal, tax, finance, and human resource professionals based in Canada, and the city of San Ramon, California, are the latest in a string of organizations choosing to work with UCG. IT Jungle has been keeping an eye on the new business wins for the vaulting champion. The "Related Stories" links at the bottom of this article will lead you to other UCG business wins.

Before coming to a conclusion on its backup and recovery strategy, Carswell investigated its options placing an emphasis on ensuring its data could be safely backed up in the cloud. Among the requirements were yearly Auditors Letter for SSAE 16 SOC II Type II and full compliance with HIPAA/HITECH regulations.

The UCG service, referred to as VAULT400, met that criteria and is now deployed to provide daily automated backups to the cloud via encrypted data sent nightly to two UCG data centers, one in Cleveland and the other in Atlanta, Georgia.

San Ramon, a growing municipality of 90,000 residents located 25 miles from Oakland, considers itself a technologically progressive city. It has an electronic customer service program in place and also a mobile app as a way for residents to submit requests to the city. An IBM 9407-515 server is trusted to store and process sensitive employee and resident information.

IT manager Rick Maria reviewed several data backup options before choosing UCG to protect the system's mission-critical DB2 and IFS files with VAULT400 with backup to the above-mentioned data centers.

James A. Kandrac, Founder & President
United Computer Group, Inc.

San Ramon is also making use of VAULT400 Reports, a Web-enabled interface for reporting the details of its cloud-based data protection plan that includes encrypted nightly backups and immediate access to its data.

When it comes to hosted services, backup and recovery is the most popular choice for IBM i shops. Managed service providers are filling the demand.

"We see a revenue shift from the traditional buy/sell business to 'the cloud' and managed services," says UCG president Jim Kandrac. From June 2013 to June 2014, Kandrac says UCG net monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from backup as a service and remote hardware recovery has increased more than 33 percent. He says UCG is on track to double MRR every three years.

RELATED STORIES

UCG Launches VAULT400 Reports

Two More Customer Wins for Vault400

Medical Supply Firm Protects Data with Vault400

UCG Lauded for Test Work by VAULT400 Customer

VAULT400 to Protect Food Service Company

Manufacturer Taps VAULT400 for Cloud Backup

Mountains Of Data Bring Recovery Issues

Dan Burger

By Dan Burger, Vice President and Executive Managing Editor, IT Jungle 

If IBM pushed any harder on promoting "The Cloud," it would rain for 40 days and 40 nights. Investments have been made in technologies such as PowerVM, SmartCloud management products, and Live Partition Mobility. And you can't undervalue the investments from the managed service providers (MSPs) and the independent software vendors (ISVs).

"We see a revenue shift from the traditional buy/sell business to 'the cloud' and managed services," says Jim Kandrac, who makes his living selling cloud-based backup and recovery services and remote hardware for disaster recovery and high availability. Kandrac's business model relies a combination of IBM Power Systems and Intel servers to handle the managed service business he refers to as backup as a service (BaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). His company, United Computer Group (UCG), is equipped to handle online backups of databases from 10 GB to 100 TB.

From June 2013 to June 2014, Kandrac says UCG net monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from backup as a service and remote hardware recovery has increased more than 33 percent. He says UCG is on track to double MRR every three years.

This doesn't prove MSPs are getting more disaster recovery business than any

other kind of cloud-based business, but it is another piece of evidence that BaaS is lifting the cloud. MSPs consider disaster recovery as the gateway to the software as a service and the lucrative services business.

"We've been doing backup and recovery for eight years," Kandrac says. "There

James A. Kandrac, Founder & President
United Computer Group, Inc.

has always been a situation where the IBM i people were doing their thing and the AIX and Windows people were doing what they do. Now we are getting calls from mostly IBM i people who have had some bad experiences on the Intel side. Things didn't work as advertised. Too much pipe, too much data, problems compressing data, and trouble connecting to the remote location are some of the problems we've heard from the Intel side. Our business has improved because of this."

The challenge on the Intel side has not been on with archiving, but on restoring because companies that used to have gigabytes of data are now breaking into the terabyte range. Several terabytes of data (what Kandrac estimates is reality for 85 percent of his customers) are unable to restore in a timely matter unless they move to a high availability environment, which for some companies is a great idea, but for a lot of companies is overkill. Kandrac says hybrid solutions using solid state disk will be the way this problem is solved of getting 24-hour restores (what most UCG customers require) without the cost (almost double) of HA. It's happening now, but it's not commonplace. As companies increase from 4 TB to 8 TB to 12 TB of data, at the current capability levels of rebuilding data, the 24-hour recovery is unattainable.

"The trend I see is that the Intel guys are talking to the i guys because the Intel guys tried something that didn't work," he says.

That's opening the door for companies like Kandrac's that can do both.

United Computer Group, Inc. Q3 2014 Newsletter

Summertime ... the livin' is BUSY! Hello and welcome to the UCG Q3 Newsletter! The first half of 2014 flew by at warp speed as we welcomed many new clients to UCG. Clearly, businesses are migrating from tape backup to cloud-based solutions at an urgent pace. Data backup is seemingly one of those workloads destined for cloud. Consider the immediate savings a business could realize if it changed from a traditional, legacy backup model to one that is cloud-connected, as well as the IT resources companies could recover and reassign to other, more business critical needs. Tape cartridges Tape library Associated maintenance for tape hardware Software licenses  For United Computer Group, the numbers speak for themselves: from June 26, 2013 to June 26, 2014, UCG’s net monthly recurring revenue for VAULT400 BaaS  (Backup as a Service) and remote hardware recovery has increased over 33%. UCG’s use of social media continues to be a significant factor to this growth by enabling us to reach out to new clients in the US, Canada, and Europe far more effectively.   As well, we are seeing a revenue shift from traditional buy/sell business to the "cloud" and managed services. UCG services, in addition to BaaS and remote hardware DR for iSeries and Intel, include remote ITaaS for IBM Power Systems and Managed Service High Availability. Thank you for your continued and future business, and a big welcome to our new clients! We hope you enjoy this issue of the UCG newsletter.   Balancing BUDGETS and PROTECTION  by James A. Kandrac Backup as a service can be a cost-effective part of your company’s budget Determining budgetary priorities is a balancing act. Often, business executives keep a tight rein on budgets, sometimes making the IT department’s priority of protecting data difficult. However, if business-critical data is lost and a company folds, keeping the lights on or employee benefits coming won’t really matter. Download PDF of article Read article in IBM Systems Magazine Published June 2014 My Ride into the Danger Zone by Jim Kandrac June 7, 2014 was no ordinary day. Fighter Pilot for a Day® by Air Combat USA, a Christmas gift from my lovely bride of 28 years, Pamela, had at last arrived! The weather was sunny and calm, a perfect day to fly. I arrived at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport well prior to take off at 01200. Excitement, adrenaline, and nerves were at full tilt. Let's just say I wore black underwear "just in case". The day began with an instructional class, followed by me handling the controls about 90% of the time. The controls were very sensitive and similar to a helicopter; very slight adjustments end up being significant corrections. All in all, I had six dog fights with another competitor, pulled 4.6 G's, almost threw up, sweated profusely, did many, many, many loops and rolls while chasing the other plane, and got three kills. It was fantastic! Thanks +Air Combat USA I cannot imagine what it was "really" like during WWII. My sincere thank you to our entire United States military who protect our freedom on a daily basis.  UCG is pleased to be a sponsor for The 20th Annual OCEAN User Group IBM i Technical Conference and Vendor Solutions Expo from Thursday evening July 17th through Saturday July 19th in Costa Mesa, California. It's not too late to join us, so register today! The conference agenda features six tracks and over thirty sessions. Featured speakers are among some of the best technical experts in the IBM Power System i world including Scott Klement. Check out the Top 3 reasons why Scott thinks YOU should be at the OCEAN IBM i Tech Conference this year! Jim Kandrac will be at the UCG exhibit on Friday, June 18th. Stop by for a visit to discuss the latest IBM Power 8 announcements and the IBM i Solution Edition for VAULT400. CLIENT SPOTLIGHT EMI Corp., located in Jackson Center, OH with a second location in Wickliffe, OH, recently subscribed to UCG's VAULT400 BaaS to protect business-critical data on their IBM Midrange system.Prior to VAULT400, EMI backed up their system with multiple, expensive tapes.This meant EMI's IT team had to perform manual backups every night. With VAULT400, they now set and forget their backups. Their data is compressed, encrypted and sent to UCG's secure, off-site, HIPAA compliant data center in Cleveland, Ohio as well as their data center in Atlanta, Georgia for a second replication. With VAULT400, data is available for immediate, user-initiated restore 365x24x7. In the event of disaster, EMI will receive Hardware Disaster Recovery Quick Ship free of charge from United Computer Group, Inc. EMI uses IBM-powered Enterprise Management Software as their ERP solution. United Computer Group is an authorized distributor for this award-winning Manufacturing and Distribution software.Kay Frieders of EMI Corp. wears many hats including Controller, IT Manager, and General Manager. Kay was extremely pleased with the outstanding customer service received from UCG, underscoring our dedication to an excellent client experience each and every time. “The VAULT400 installation on our iSeries was flawless and could not have been better. In addition to the smooth installation, UCG promptly followed up with me on the seeding completion of all the backup jobs that were scheduled to make sure that everything is perfect for EMI Corp. I’ve been working for 30 years with IT people all over and it is refreshing to work with UCG; they care and it shows. It’s that kind of detail to attention that keeps customers coming back.” - Kay Frieders For more than 40 years, EMI has been one of the most experienced and reliable manufacturers and suppliers of automation equipment and maintenance products for the plastics industry. EMI supplies thousands of products and their automation systems are found in many plastic processing facilities of all sizes. On Friday May 16, 2014 UCG hosted clients and business partners for "Spring Fever 2014" at Acacia Reservation in Lyndhurst, Ohio. By all accounts, the event was a success! Highlights Virtual tour and capabilities of UCG Data Center Partner BlueBridge Networks LLC by Petar Bojovic of BBN Data Backup and Disaster Recovery for iSeries and Intel (vSphere and Hyper-v) 10GB to > 100TB by Jim Kandrac and Tim Prostor of UCG Data Intelligence and Warehouse Management by Gina Parry of VAI What is Flash?  When and why might it be considered?  by Tracey Halama of IBM Chicago IBM Power 8 update by Jim Kandrac   A/P Workflow and Document Management by Bill Wilson of Vanguard Systems In addition, guests socialized over a hot buffet breakfast and lunch followed by an afternoon of golf at Hawthorne Valley Country Club. A big thank you to everyone in attendance and to our excellent presenters!  We hope to see you all again soon. Visit Our Resource Libraries Be sure to take advantage of the valuable information available for download in our VAULT400 and Enterprise Management Software Resource Libraries. United Computer Group, Inc. 7100 E. Pleasant Valley Road  Suite 250 Independence, OH 44131-5556 Toll Free: 800.211.8798 Main: 216.520.1333 Email: info@ucgrp.com ucgrp.com | vault400.com James A. Kandrac, President Michael D. Powall, Vice President We are socially connected! You can find us on LinkedIn, Twitter,YouTube, Google+, Facebook, and on our UCG Blog. We make an effort to connect on social media with our clients, vendors, and business partners, so please reach out and let us know where we can find you. Speaking of social media, where have you found the most success connecting with other technology companies/ technology-minded individuals? Let us know what you think at info@ucgrp.com.

July 2014 Q3 Newsletter UCG in the News: Q2 2014 Highlights IBM Engine of the Week: Colocation Solution Keeps Insurer Online Amid Hurricane Sandy's Wrath  Watch podcast to see how with the guidance from IBM partner United Computer Group, IFIC avoided nearly $2 million in lost revenues and learned valuable lessons to help it prepare for future incidents." +Paul Gillin "Though the IT team at Newark, NJ-based International Fidelity Insurance Company (IFIC) had rehearsed its disaster recovery scenario with precision, the team couldn't have anticipated an event that would take out power, roads and communications across a wide swath of the mid-Atlantic coast. When Hurricane Sandy hit in October, 2012, the disaster recovery team had to fail over to a co-location site with the clock ticking on its uninterruptible power supply and no phone service." UCG Champions Technology Upgrade for the Ohio AFSCME Care Plan "The Ohio AFSCME Care Plan, which covers more than 41,000 public and non-profit workers in Ohio, realized it needed a technology upgrade to support not only its current requirements, but also its future growth. To assist with its technology upgrade planning and implementation, the organization turned to United Computer Group (UCG), an information technology services firm with deep knowledge in IBM Power Systems and IBM i, which is based in suburban Cleveland, Ohio." - Dan Burger, IT Jungle  What happens when your cloud provider goes out of business? Going with cloud providers doesn’t mean you can forget about disaster planning. What if they go out of business, taking your server capacity and data with them? In this article, +Thoran Rodrigues succinctly captures the importance of conducting due diligence on prospective cloud vendors. UCG Partner BlueBridge Networks Once Again Honored as COSE NEOSA Best IT Services Company Congratulations to UCG's ​Cleveland, Ohio data center​ partner​​, BlueBridge Networks​, once again named a COSE NEOSA Best IT Services Company. As a VAULT400 subscriber, your data is of utmost importance to us and is secured at our data centers in Cleveland and Atlanta. Operational ​excellence and our commitment to High Availability, ​reliability and ​security is paramount and recognized by our peers.  Click here to download the​ Auditors Letter for our SSAE 16 SOC II Type II for the period ending 12-31-2013 which has once again been completed without exception. Please let us know what questions around safe harbor, compliance or audits you may have and how else we may assist. Visit our website for additional information on UCG's data centers. Become a UCG Partner United Computer Group partners enjoy collaborative, rewarding, and mutually beneficial arrangements to bring industry-leading technology solutions to the mid-market. Our core business philosophies ensure that our clients have an excellent experience. We are focused on delivering solutions to help them solve their most complex technology challenges. As an IBM Advanced Business Partner, UCG has been actively marketing Power Systems-based enterprise solutions since 1987. We place great value in finding the right partner to provide a high level of sales, marketing, and technological support to our clients. Interested? Click here to fill out a brief form and we will contact you within 24 hours. We look forward to working with you. TUG TEC2014 Conference Highlights Toronto Users Group Conference, TUG TEC2014, took place on April 24-25 at Seneca College at York University. The two day conference spotlighted the IBM i mid-range systems. Léo Lefebvre, TUG president stated, “I am very happy to see such a great turnout for our 21st event. Providing a vendor showcase among the many technical sessions has proven a success year after year. TUG is glad to provide this forum to connect the IBM community for this exchange of ideas." Sessions focused on a few main themes this year: Performance Management, Modernizing IBM i Applications, and IBM i and RPG Application Development. A trending topic on the use of mobile development on the IBM i was also a highlight of the conference. Tim Rowe, IBM Business Architect, provided the keynote speech. Tim noted that organizations can make IBM i applications look and feel new. It can be done either through a web interface or even a mobile device.

My Ride Into the Danger Zone

Jim Kandrac, President of United Computer Group, Inc.

 

June 7, 2014 was no ordinary day. My adventure as Fighter Pilot for a Day® by Air Combat USA, a Christmas gift from my lovely bride of 28 years, Pamela, had at last arrived!

The weather was sunny and calm, a perfect day to fly. I arrived at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport well prior to take off at 01200. Excitement, adrenaline, and nerves were at full tilt. Let's just say I wore black underwear "just in case".

The day began with an instructional class, followed by me handling the controls about 90% of the time. The controls were very sensitive and similar to a helicopter; very slight adjustments end up being significant corrections. All in all, I had six dog fights with another competitor, pulled 4.6 G's, almost threw up, sweated profusely, did many, many, many loops and rolls while chasing the other plane, and got three kills. 

It was a fantastic experience! +Air Combat USA

I cannot imagine what it was "really" like during WWII. My sincere thanks to our entire United States military who protect our freedom on a daily basis.

 Jim Kandrac