FROM: Joe Michael, Chief Information Officer
SUBJECT: Recommended Storage Backup and Business Continuity Solution
RECOMMENDATION:
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Recommend that the Board approve the purchase of a Pure Storage Network device and 5-year license from CDW-G in an amount not to exceed $134,207.36.
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BACKGROUND:
Staff recommends the purchase of a second Pure Storage unit and its accompanying subscription at a cost not to exceed $134,207.36. This solution is designed to complement the previously approved performance-based system by prioritizing capacity, allowing SBCERA to efficiently store and manage significantly larger volumes of data. The proposed unit provides approximately four times the capacity of the performance-focused system purchased in September and nearly eight times the capacity of the legacy systems it will replace. In addition, the inclusion of a five-year subscription and integration license strengthens our overall Business Continuity posture by enabling tighter coordination across our storage, backup, and cloud environments, moving SBCERA closer to a fully redundant and resilient system.
SBCERA began investing in Pure Storage technology following Board approval on September 4, 2025 to acquire an enterprise-grade storage platform to support production systems. That investment was critical to addressing aging infrastructure that had reached the end of its life and was no longer supported by the manufacturer. Since implementation, all production systems have been successfully migrated, and the new platform has met or exceeded all performance and reliability expectations.
With production systems now stabilized, SBCERA will advance to the next phase of its Data Center and Business Continuity strategy. This phase focuses on modernizing long-term storage, enhancing on-site backup capabilities, and improving integration between on-premises systems and our cloud environment. Together, these efforts are intended to ensure that data is not only secure and accessible but also recoverable in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Our current long-term storage system has been in operation for more than 15 years and is primarily used for infrequently accessed, non-critical data. While its role has allowed us to extend its lifespan, it no longer meets modern security standards and poses increasing operational risk due to the lack of available replacement parts. Continuing to rely on this system exposes the organization to risks that are not aligned with SBCERA’s risk tolerance or compliance expectations.
Similarly, the existing on-site backup storage system, which provides rapid access to recently backed-up data, has been in service for over 10 years and has reached both its end of life and capacity limits. While still operational, it no longer supports the volume of data required to maintain effective recovery windows. Currently, we can retain approximately one month of backups on-site, compared to the three-month window that has historically been most valuable for recovery scenarios. Expanding the current system is not cost-effective and would exceed the cost of replacing it with a modern solution.
The proposed Pure Storage unit addresses both challenges by consolidating and expanding our capacity for long-term and backup storage into a single, modern platform. Beyond hardware replacement, this recommendation includes enhanced integration across SBCERA’s technology ecosystem, including our virtual server environment, VEEAM backup platform, and Microsoft Azure cloud services. At a high level, this integration enables more consistent and reliable data protection, improves our ability to recover systems quickly, and provides greater flexibility in how and where systems are restored during an outage.
This approach allows SBCERA to better leverage a hybrid model, where data and applications can be maintained on-premises for performance and control, while also utilizing cloud capabilities for redundancy and disaster recovery. In practical terms, this means we can recover critical systems more quickly, reduce downtime, and avoid the costs and delays associated with retrieving data from legacy backup methods.
SBCERA recommends utilizing the same NASPO contract and procurement channel through CDW-G that was successfully used for the initial Pure Storage deployment. This approach ensures consistency, leverages pre-negotiated pricing, and builds on an established vendor relationship that has already demonstrated successful delivery, installation, and support.
BUDGET IMPACT:
Costs for this item are included in the current year administrative and/or non-administrative budget.
STRATEGIC PLANNING GOAL/OBJECTIVE:
Operational Excellence & Efficiency
STAFF CONTACT:
Joe Michael
ATTACHMENTS:
Exhibit A: CDW-G High-Capacity Pure Storage Proposal