Welcome to the Q2 2015 UCG Newsletter

Hello and happy Spring! We hit the ground running in Q1 and continue to build momentum, welcoming new clients and forming strategic partnerships. As well, we've made significant investments in equipment and staff to continue to deliver service excellence to meet and exceed the expectations of our clients. UCG has expanded its service offering beyond backup and recovery expertise, resulting in an IBM i customer base totaling more than 150 organizations. The new capabilities include services surrounding development, test, and production environments. Since 1987, UCG's unsurpassed commitment to providing an unsurpassed client experience has been the cornerstone of our company. We listen carefully to your business issues and pain points, and then work with you to solve them. It's a simple yet key core value that each of our team members embrace. As the year unfolds, we remain focused as we continue to evolve, innovate, and stay true to our tradition of engaged client relationships. Thank you for your continued interest in United Computer Group. Please enjoy this issue of the UCG newsletter and forward to colleagues within and outside your organization. Thank you for your friendship, your confidence, and your business.  Hot in Cleveland: UCG Sees Payoff from MSP Vision UCG is delighted and honored to be featured in IBM Midsize Insider. Many thanks to Paul Gillin for a great interview and for succinctly capturing UCG's journey. Please enjoy the article! James Kandrac founded United Computer Group, Inc. (UCG) In December 1987. He was 26 years old, married with a six-month old child. Having worked at IBM and a small leasing firm that he helped grow to $125 million and a public offering, he had a passion to run his own business. More than 27 years later, UCG – an IBM Advanced Business Partner – has 1,500 clients and a robust business providing backup, disaster recovery and systems integration and support services for a variety of IBM platforms. Never satisfied to rest on his laurels, Jim noticed several years ago that business was changing and that UCG would need to latch onto the cloud computing phenomenon that was rolling across the industry. UCG began building out a managed service provider (MSP) business in the days before it was fashionable. It was hard work at first, but the company is now reaping the rewards of its foresight. Jim tells what he has learned in this Midsize Insider Q&A interview. What convinced you to launch an MSP side to your business?​ Nearly 10 years ago UCG started to see an overall decline in annual hardware sales. ​Clients that would normally upgrade or replace systems every two or three years due to growth or obsolescence were stretching out to four and five years, mostly due to available capacity. We decided to provide solutions that were needed and would "stick" for long periods of time. The top two IT needs at that time were and continue to be security and disaster recovery. What MSP services do you provide and to what kind of customers?​ BaaS, or backup as a service, and remote hardware disaster recovery for IBM i and Intel-based systems. We also offer test, development and logical partitioning or LPARS. How has your experience launching this business differed from your expectations? Any surprises?​ I thought that within one year, we would reach a specific goal of X number of clients and revenue. It took seven years. Selling and supporting an MSP practice takes a large investment of time, money, and resources, while at the same time running the day-to-day operations side of the business. How well is the business performing and what do future growth prospects look like?​  The first two to three years were like any other start-up; slow and difficult. Since year four, however, UCG has grown the MSP business 25% per year on average.​ What’s different about running an MSP from running a more traditional systems integration company?​ You’re more involved on an ongoing basis. You need 7X24X365 support, and emergency calls can come at any time. You have to be committed to solve client problems and to be able to focus, execute and deliver.​ Are you serving the same customers or a whole new class of customers?​ It’s Marketing 101: Sell new products and services to an existing client base and then branch out. In 2007 most of our business was within 200 miles of our headquarters in Cleveland. Last year we had close to 150 MSP clients in 30 states in the U.S., Canada and Europe. That’s in addition to the more than 1,500 clients UCG has served regionally since our founding in 1987.​ What bumps in the road did you encounter along the way?​ Selling MSP services takes time. Prospects must be educated and you need the buy-in of both the IT team and the C-level executives. Initially, there is a significant capital investment and you must be focused and committed. MSP services are not a part-time offering. To do it right, you need to jump in with both feet. What advice would you have for integrators who are reluctant to adopt the MSP model? If you feel you have a service offering that is truly needed in the marketplace, do a survey or focus group with selected long-term clients and then be ready to work diligently to make the business successful. Solving client issues and pains is paramount; deliver an excellent client experience every time, without exception. You have one reputation. Once you've lost it, you can't get it back.​ CLIENT SPOTLIGHT: H-P Products, Inc. Congratulations to longtime client H-P Products, Inc. of Louisville, Ohio on 70 years of success! H-P was one of UCG's first clients in 1987 and has been a valued client and partner for nearly three decades. Back in 1987, H-P Controller Allen Green, now the President of H-P Products, purchased large Memorex-Telex Twinax terminals called the Memorex Telex 2051 from UCG. It must have been our attractive yellow marketing mailer that caught Allen's attention. Recently, UCG and H-P IT Director Robert Arnold migrated H-P to an IBM P8 server with an IBM V3700 SAN. H-P also subscribes to UCG's VAULT400 BaaS and DR solutions. Thank you for your continued business and loyalty to UCG for nearly 30 years. Congratulations to everyone at H-P Products on 70 years of success! About H-P Products h-pproducts.com H-P Products on YouTube Since 1945, H-P Products, Inc., premier manufacturer of central vacuums and tubing-related products, has established an internationally recognized operation developed on the genuine principles of producing high-quality products, while servicing the needs of a wide customer base. Superior service and performance practices that key executives have instilled in the company have positioned H-P as a leader in the tubular products and central vacuum industries. Today, H-P continues to grow as a result of its diversified product line, flexible fabrication capabilities, ISO 9001:2008 certified manufacturing processes and quality products and services. H-P is committed to researching and formulating technologies to enhance the product line while pioneering the industry. To meet the intense demands of manufacturing, engineering and research and development, H-P has three state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Ohio totaling over 300,000 square feet. Extensive production capabilities, coupled with improved processes and operating efficiencies, contribute to a more flexible and responsive manufacturing environment designed to comply with ever-changing industry requirements and needs. H-P distributes its products to over 25 countries and continues to grow due to aggressive distribution channel expansion and partnering agreements. H-P’s commitment to satisfying customers has resulted in expansion efforts and enhanced production capabilities that have resulted in a steady increase of sales and market share, both internationally and domestically. 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 #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 Socially connected! Connect with UCG 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.

United Computer Group, Inc. April 2015 Q2 Newsletter UCG in the News: Q2 2015 Highlights It Jungle: UCG And Expedient Partner For Expanded IBM i Hosted Services United Computer Group built a trustworthy reputation alongside its growing IBM midrange customer base by offering online backup services. It also offered disaster recovery services to organizations that have figured out the limitations of their downtime survival endurance. UCG has made the investments in equipment and staff to deliver service that meets high expectations, and now it's taking the next step. Expedient, a company with 11 data centers in seven markets from Chicago eastward, including the northeast regions of the United States, and UCG decided they could use one another's help, so they formed a partnership. Read full story in IT Jungle. Read Press Release: UCG Expansion Requirements Sparks Partnership with Expedient TAB Products Takes Data Protection to the Next Level with UCG’s VAULT400 BaaS “We selected VAULT400 because it runs natively on the iSeries and gives us off-site storage automatically, reducing the transporting of tapes off-site to a minimum." - Terry Vilter, IT Manager, TAB Business Systems Infor XA User Group Conference May 27-28 IBM Conference Center, Rochester, MN UCG is pleased to be a sponsor the Infor XA User Group (IXAUG) System i (XA, LX, System21) User Conference. The IXAUG is committed to providing education, training, and problem-solving solutions to its rapidly growing membership, as well as positively influencing the ecosystem direction in a constructive partnership for success and long-term growth. Register today! For more information, contact Rad Yates, Chairman, Infor XA User Group at 440.463.5805. We look forward to seeing you at the conference. UCG is now accepting electronic signatures with DocuSign.  UCG is pleased to offer a safe, efficient method for our clients to sign documents with DocuSign. What are the benefits of electronic signature? Time and money saved. Eliminate the need to print, fax, scan, email or ship documents. Faster results. Send documents for signature and get a response in minutes, not days. Increased efficiency. Store and access all documents from your secure cloud account. Legally binding documents. Get a complete audit trail and tamper-proof virtual seal of the signed documents. Flexibility to work on the go. Sign, send, and track documents from anywhere on any Internet-enabled device. "DocuSign worked well! I completed the agreement during a jury duty break. Convenient." - Marc Masters, Wheeling Lake Erie Railway Your DR Strategy Guide for IBM i Available for Download Now! Thank you for taking time to read the DR Strategy Guide for IBM i, brought to you by Maxava and United Computer Group. If you or your team are responsible for the ongoing health and protection of your IBM i systems and data, this guide is for you! Click here to download your DR Strategy Guide. United Computer Group, Inc. (UCG) was founded in 1987 by James A. Kandrac. UCG has been an IBM Business Partner since 1989 and an IBM Advanced Business Partner since 1991. Customers have rated UCG in the top 1% of IBM Business Partners nationwide. UCG offers VAULT400 BaaS and IBM Power Systems, in addition to a wide range of related products and services. United Computer Group, Inc. and Maxava have been business partners since 2008. Maxava HA is the solution of choice when UCG clients need RTO and RPO of less than 1 hour. Read more. 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.

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!

You're Invited: UCG Spring Fever 2014!

Please Join Us!

Friday, May 16, 2014

8:00 am - 3:00 pm

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TODAY!

You must register to be a part 

of this exciting event.

SPACE IS LIMITED.

Sponsored by 

United Computer Group, IBM, and Arrow

Event Location

Acacia Reservation, Lyndhurst, Ohio

(fka Acacia Country Club) Driving Directions

Note: If you are located ​90 minutes or more from event, UCG will provide a complimentary hotel room for Thursday, May 15 if desired. Check box on registration form to reserve your room.

UCG Spring Fever 2014

AGENDA
Time	Topic	Presenter
8:00 am	Registration and Breakfast	Barbara Belovics, UCG
8:30 am	Welcome and Introductions	Michael Powall, VP UCG
8:45 am	Virtual Tour and Capabilities of UCG Data Center Partner BlueBridge Networks LLC	Petar Bojovic, Manager Technical Operations, BlueBridge Networks, LLC
9:15 am	Data Backup and Disaster Recovery for iSeries and Intel (vSphere and Hyper-v) 10GB to >100TB	James Kandrac, President, UCG; Timothy Prostor, Sr. Engineer, UCG
9:45 am	Data Intelligence and Warehouse Management	Gina Parry, Account Manager, VAI
Break
10:30 am	What is Flash? When and Why Might It Be Considered?	Tracey Halama, IBM
11:00 am	IBM Power 8 Update: Speeds, Feeds and Upgrade Paths. 4-core & V3700 SAN	James Kandrac, President, UCG
11:30 am	IMS-21 Enterprise Document Management and Workflow	Bill Wilson, VP of Strategic Alliances, Vanguard Systems, Inc.
12:00 pm	Lunch, Summary, and Discussion	All
1:30 pm	Golf or Acacia Reservation Walking Tour	Note preference on registration form

Breakfast and lunch by Dino's Catering

Call 800.211.8798 for more information.

Become a United Computer Group Partner

UCG Partner Center

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? Fill out this form and we will contact you within 24 hours. We look forward to working with you.

WMCPA Spring Technical Conference Highlights

Lake Lawn Resort, Delavan Lake, WI

UCG's +Michael Seday attended the 29th Annual Wisconsin Midrange Computer Professional Association Spring Technical Conference (WMCPA) on March 11 through 13. The event was held at Lake Lawn Resort on the snowy shores of Delavan Lake, WI.  

"Women in IT", a conference highlight, included excellent presentations, an expert round table, and open discussions. 

Get Your Head Into The Cloud

WMCPA's Keynote speaker was Richard Dolewski of iTinuum. Richard is a frequent technical contributor to industry publications, and the author of System i Disaster Recovery Planning. "Get Your Head Into the Cloud" was the title of Richard's Keynote speech. The focus was on transitioning from a traditional data center to a secure private cloud architecture. Richard provided a look into making IT a revenue generator for businesses, explaining that "with today's IT you can own way less and do way more. It is time for IT organizations to evolve and implement new technologies that support virtualization, agility, resiliency and how to manage the costs associated with cloud computing."

Left to right: Michael Seday, UCG; Jim Buck, Gateway Tech College & WMCPA President;  Richard Dolewski, iTinuum President & Keynote Speaker;  Shane Poad, Paragon Software & WMCPA Sponsor Director 

Breakout sessions covered JavaScript, IBM i Security, Intro to Ruby and Ruby on Rails, Processing XML with RPG, and many IBM i hands-on and technical discussions. 

The UCG booth at WMCPA

The show was well attended and included over 20 conference sponsors including United Computer Group. If you missed this event, be sure to keep an eye out for the 30th annual spring conference next year.

Steven Joy and Michael Seday

Steven Joy of E.R. Wagner, was the proud winner of UCG's conference giveaway: a box of Callaway HEX Control golf balls. Steve, enjoy your game! 
An additional box of golf balls was given away at Casino Night to the ecstatic craps, roulette and blackjack players.

The WMCPA has provided over 25 years of quality information to allow their members to expand their knowledge on the ever-evolving mid-range system.  

Considering which backup and DR solutions are right for your business?

UCG will deploy the perfect solution to best meet your data protection, DR, and business needs today, and as your business grows.

Overview

Plug-n-Protect Appliance is an all-in-one backup and recovery appliance for fast and economical deployment of a complete data protection solution from 3TB to 100TB+. Includes preconfigured hardware and storage, plus a complete suite of VAULT400 software.

Software Capacity Edition manages and controls multiple vaults by licensing the patented award winning technology. Software Capacity Edition is suited for the enterprises both large and small with 250GB to 100TB+ of data.

VAULT400 Backup as a Service (Baas) is a managed secure cloud backup and disaster recovery solution best positioned to protect data <500GB. Data is encrypted and compressed offsite at two of UCG’s secure data centers. Add extra DR protection with optional hardware disaster recovery options of 24-hr, 12-hr DR or 1-hr HA.

Local Express Recovery Appliance (EPA) is a pre-configured storage appliance that’s installed at the client location as a vault, providing a local cache for backup data from 500GB to 2.5TB. A companion product to BaaS, Express Recovery Appliance automatically replicates your data to the secure VAULT400 cloud for offsite disaster recovery protection.

Learn more about each solution by clicking here.

UCG Saves Client IFIC Over $2M During Superstorm Sandy

Jim Kandrac and Tim Prostor of UCG had a great visit with client International Fidelity Insurance Company in Newark, NJ on Thursday, March 6, 2014. UCG provided Maxava H/A software to IFIC several years ago and it proved very useful during the power outage due to Superstorm Sandy. Without its DR solution, IFIC would have lost three full days of operation, equating to around $2 million in revenue.

IFIC's story was featured in IBM Magazine.

IFIC also has agreements with UCG for VAULT400 BaaS and IBM i Cloud Test/ Dev. Partition.

From Left to Right:  Bob Marshall, IFI Vice President; Bruno Fonseca, IFI Senior Network Systems Manager; George Rankin, IFI Program Manager;  Barbara Kissner, IFI Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer;  Eric Kong, IFI Senior Programmer Analyst;  Jack Callahan, IFI Senior Programmer Analyst; Jim Kandrac, UCG President; Tim Prostor, UCG Senior Engineer;  Michael Gottlieb, IFI Programmer Analyst

Vanguard Systems, Inc. partners with UCG to offer Backup as a Service (BAAS) to clients

Enhanced scan, store, retrieve, protect, and recover capabilities now available to clients worldwide

United Computer Group, Inc. and Vanguard Systems, Inc., a global supplier of Enterprise Document Management Systems, today announced a new partnership agreement. The new agreement enables Vanguard to offer UCG’s VAULT400 Backup as a Service (BAAS) and remote hardware disaster recovery to clients nationwide.

For over 25 years, Vanguard Systems, Inc. has supported a diverse client base across the globe including several fortune 100 companies. Vanguard provides a suite of document imaging, forms design, workflow, data extraction, and content management solutions. United Computer Group, Inc., in addition to VAULT400 BAAS, has delivered value-based technology solutions for the IBM midrange market for over 27 years, serving 1,500+ clients worldwide.

David Engberg, President of Vanguard Systems, Inc. said, “This agreement enables Vanguard to offer clients a turnkey solution—scan, store, retrieve, protect and recover. The UCG VAULT400 offering will be available in SAAS, appliances, and software licensing depending on raw data requirements of 10GB to >100TB.”  Vanguard clients’ data will be available 7/24/365 for immediate recovery of granular files or in totality.  Options are available for remote hardware RTO of 72/24/12 or < 1 hour.  

“We are excited and eager to move forward with UCG, a company that has had a noticeable impact on the IBM mid-market with its BAAS and remote hardware DR offerings,” stated Bill Wilson, Vice President of Strategic Alliances for Vanguard Systems. Vanguard’s selection of UCG’s solution was made after a comprehensive evaluation process from a variety of cloud backup and disaster recovery solutions.

“UCG is pleased to have been selected by Vanguard and look forward to being their clients’ provider for a wide range of remote data storage and disaster recovery solutions. Vanguard clients will benefit and can leverage our knowledge to obtain a solution that best suits their requirements”, said Jim Kandrac, UCG’s founder and president.  “With solutions that cover a broad spectrum, we are unbiased and can do what’s best for Vanguard clients.”

Vanguard Systems, Inc. is headquartered outside of Philadelphia, PA, with satellite offices in Ohio and California. Vanguard provides a suite of document imaging, forms design, workflow, data extraction, and content management solutions, making the power of information instantly available anywhere across the enterprise. Vanguard provides their clients with a seamless solution covering the entire document lifecycle.