Provide a brief description of the Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative
Epic Information Solutions Inc. initially responded to a request for a quotation from WorldSkills Calgary 2009, which asked for a proposal to supply a physical infrastructure of hardware and services for the WorldSkills event. WorldSkills Calgary 2009 was a week-long event, with almost 1,000 competitors from 50 countries or regions participating in competitions designed to showcase the specialized skills associated with 45 trade, service and technology vocations. In addition to the competitors, the week-long event attracted an estimated 150,000 spectators as well as 5,000 experts, delegates and judges from around the world. It was the largest independent event ever hosted at Calgary’s Stampede Park, requiring 800,000 square feet of space. The event, which was two-thirds the size of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, carried an operating budget of approximately $60 million. While Epic Information Solutions made a proposal in accordance with what was asked for but also outlined a virtual alternative, an option Epic Information Solutions positioned as its preferred solution. It was the virtual solution that was accepted, which called for a hardware configuration with the capacity to support an almost open-ended number of virtual servers. In Calgary, four physical servers ultimately supported 40 virtual servers. The virtual servers provided a complete system platform that supported the operating system as well as program software specific to a competition event.
Describe what makes this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative original or innovative?
Epic Information Solutions’ considerable experience in designing and building IT environments was uniquely suited to developing an IT solution for WorldSkills Calgary 2009. Its long-standing and collaborative relationships with firms such as HP, Microsoft, VMWare, Novell, Citrix, McAfee, Faronics, and Fluke Networks, was a vital factor in ensuring that Epic’s IT concept was successful. The WorldSkills organizers also collaborated in the project by agreeing to, and supporting, many IT solutions that were new to the operation of their competition. Epic Information Solutions completed the project within a tight timeline. Their proposal for WorldSkills was accepted in December, 2008, leaving a mere eight months before the September, 2009, event. WorldSkills was also a project that had a zero tolerance for errors or problems once the competition events got underway. The objective was to ensure that the competition events would not be held up or upset by computer problems; this objective was achieved. In addition to providing filling the needs and wants of WorldSkills Calgary 2009, the solution provided by Epic Information Solutions was also extremely cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
Describe the improvement this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative made to the customer’s sales or revenues. What changed?
Epic’s IT plan called for a hardware configuration with the capacity to support an almost open-ended number of virtual servers. In Calgary four physical servers ultimately supported 40 virtual servers. The virtual servers provided a complete system platform that supported the operating system as well as program software specific to a competition event. The addition of more server resources was possible without much cost or effort. For example, the organizers of one of the competitive events wanted to train its judges in an IT environment identical to that used at the competition; a new virtual server with the relevant software was set up for this purpose in minutes. (A “traditional” solution to this request would have required the addition of a physical server and several hours of setup time.) The IT environment was set up so that when competitors or judges plugged in and logged into the computer workstations at their events venue, they were automatically connected to the virtual server created for that event; the virtual server was the locus of all operating systems and program software associated with that venue. In the case of competitors, for example, this meant that all competitors in that event exercised their creative talents on the same O/S platform using identical versions of software. The Epic proposal also called for the creation of virtual desktops, and 55 of these were created. With organizers and visitors coming to Calgary with laptops and operating systems and settings as varied as the countries they came from, the virtual desktop provided a common environment that would work with any visitors’ computer. There was zero downtime, and no additional hardware or software costs were necessary once the initial hardware had been purchased, due to the scalability of the solution. Epic Information Solutions also leveraged their vendor relationships to secure additional sponsorship funding from their vendors, which helped offset the costs of running the event.
Describe the improvement this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative made to the customer’s efficiency. What changed?
The four physical servers in the WorldSkills network had built-in features for security, backup, and recovery. That is, the system was able to reconfigure its resources and redirect them to “work around” the area affected by a crash or some other problem interrupting a service to that area. WorldSkills Calgary staff, competitors and visitors were treated to 100% uptime and accessibility 24 hours a day for the entire length of the event. Competitions were able to run on schedule the entire time, with zero delays, due to the efficiency of the solution. Judges, dignitaries and organizers were able to plug into the environment without issue or delay, regardless of the machine type, operating system or settings they were using.
How did this Solution, Service provided, or Initiative improve the customer’s ability to serve its internal and/or external clients?
Epic’s IT plan called for a hardware configuration with the capacity to support an almost open-ended number of virtual servers. In Calgary four physical servers ultimately supported 40 virtual servers. The virtual servers provided a complete system platform that supported the operating system as well as program software specific to a competition event. The addition of more server resources was possible without much cost or effort. For example, the organizers of one of the competitive events wanted to train its judges in an IT environment identical to that used at the competition; a new virtual server with the relevant software was set up for this purpose in minutes. (A “traditional” solution to this request would have required the addition of a physical server and several hours of setup time.) The IT environment was set up so that when competitors or judges plugged in and logged into the computer workstations at their events venue, they were automatically connected to the virtual server created for that event; the virtual server was the locus of all operating systems and program software associated with that venue. In the case of competitors, for example, this meant that all competitors in that event exercised their creative talents on the same O/S platform using identical versions of software. The Epic proposal also called for the creation of virtual desktops, and 55 of these were created. With organizers and visitors coming to Calgary with laptops and operating systems and settings as varied as the countries they came from, the virtual desktop provided a common environment that would work with any visitors’ computer. Competitions were able to run on schedule the entire time, with zero delays, due to the efficiency of the solution. Judges, dignitaries and organizers were able to plug into the environment without issue or delay, regardless of the machine type, operating system or settings they were using.
In what way