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  6. Focal Point Solutions Group Announces New Release of DR FlashCopy

Focal Point Solutions Group Announces New Release of DR FlashCopy

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Company touts DR FlashCopy 2.0 as “the future of HA”, as it demos the solution in its new, secure state-of-the-art Innovation Center supporting evaluation and testing of HA and DR strategies.

 

 

Highlights

What: Version 2.0 of DR FlashCopy with added functionality

Also: New online and physical test center for HA and DR strategies

Where: Baseline Data Services' data center, Indianapolis, Indiana

Provider: Focal Point Solutions Group (FPSG), an IBM Business Partner offering managed services

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Partner, Focal Point Solutions Group

 

Focal Point Solutions Group LLC, an IBM Business Partner, today announced immediate availability of DR FlashCopyTM Version 2.0 as well as the launch of its new DR FlashCopy Innovation Center in Baseline Data Services' disaster recovery facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Innovation Center provides users of IBM i systems a secure environment for testing various High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies.

 

Focal Point Solutions Group LLC is an IBM Business Partner owned by professionals with extensive IT industry experience and a deep understanding of the IBM midrange platform. Based in Florida, the company is an IBM MSP Infrastructure Partner with certifications in IBM Power Systems, Tivoli Storage Manager, and IBM storage.

 

Focal Point is exhibiting at this 2015 Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, held on April 26 - 29, 2015. The conference is the largest annual gathering of IBM Power Systems users and IT professionals in the world. The four days provides education on leading IBM i, Linux and AIX topics, delivered by industry experts, with networking opportunities, and the world’s largest Power Systems vendor expo.

 

The Innovation Center facility in Indianapolis permits organizations to test their HA and DR strategies in person or remotely using Focal Point's unique DR FlashCopy solution in conjunction with IBM Power Systems and IBM Storwize external storage. The Innovation Center supports a variety of hosting environments (IBM i, AIX, and Linux) in virtual LPAR partitions. Physical testing facilities are available for clients who wish to work at the physical location, or they can access the Center remotely.

 

The facility, managed by Baseline Data Services, is completely secure and features the latest FM-200 fire suppression, redundant cooling and humidity control, audio and video surveillance, electronic key card access, Category 6 wiring, noise suppression, and backup generators to assure safe and continuous operation.

 

DR FlashCopy Version 2.0

Testing is a crucial part of maintaining any HA solution, yet too many companies avoid role swap testing because they can't afford a brief outage or they fear the system will fail. Focal Point has addressed this concern with DR FlashCopy Version 2.0. It permits testing without downtime and creates a working backup for DR purposes. New features in Version 2.0 include:

  • Scripting: Enhanced scripting services that automate the role-swap process
  • Integration: Improved integration with MIMIX 8.0 from Vision Solutions and IBM i release 7.2.
  • Availability: Implementation within the DR FlashCopy Innovation Center at Indianapolis
  • Monitoring: Better monitoring within the DR FlashCopy offering.

Pete Elliot, Focal Point Solutions Group Partner, stated, “DR FlashCopy points to the future of HA. It leverages our Innovation Center to provide extensive testing facilities for the IBM i community to evaluate the many scenarios available for implementing HA and DR services. Moreover, production operations are well protected with Vision Solutions' HA mirroring software in conjunction with DR FlashCopy. For organizations without HA or DR services, the Innovation Center is designed to provide an extremely affordable HA solution, packaged with an affordable cloud-based HA/DR managed services offering."

 

Data Center Monitoring

 

FPSG also offers custom managed services for monitoring critical HA mirroring processes in the data center and monitoring security practices. Focal Point specialists automatically detect when a system is out of sync and proactively initiate corrective measures.

 

Ron Venzin, Managing Partner at FPSG, noted, “As a new and award-winning IBM Business Partner, Focal Point Solutions Group is making a major effort to provide a unique set of managed services and tools to assist data centers to better manage their systems on a variety of levels.”

 

Among its custom managed services for monitoring HA/DR, Focal Point will perform the following tasks:

 

  • Check replication processes twice daily
  • Review replication audit reports
  • Report and fix out-of-sync files
  • Resolve replication errors
  • Perform required HA configuration adjustments
  • Conduct automated and manual audits
  • Recommend, install HA solution upgrades
  • Perform annual switch (roll-over) tests and regular DR FlashCopyTM tests
  • Install PTFs and service packs
  • Provide contact person and escalation tree
  • Provide first-level replication support
  • Open, track second-level support issues
  • Produce monthly activity reports

 

For more information on Focal Point Solutions Group’s DR FlashCopy Innovation Center, DR FlashCopy V2.0, and custom managed services, contact Pete Elliot, Partner, FPSG, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or call Focal Point at 813-513-7402.

 

About Focal Point Solutions Group LLC (FPSG)

Focal Point Solutions Group LLC is an IBM Business Partner based in Florida with extensive experience in the IBM Power Systems, x86, and new cloud platforms. FPSG is an IBM MSP Infrastructure Partner with certifications in Power Systems use, Tivoli Storage Manager, and IBM storage. Focal Point earlier this year was awarded the 2015 Top Performing New Business Partner Award from IBM and Avnet Electronics. Focal Point has clients throughout North America and specializes in managed services, high availability, and unique disaster-recovery architectures, including Focal Point's DR FlashCopyTM solution, a bundled DR offering that includes IBM hardware, software and custom managed services to improve HA and DR strategies.

 

Cloud hosting solutions are designed to make the work of IT professionals easier. The company offers technical assessments and support for server consolidation, virtualization, data protection, availability, security, and compliance. The FPSG Managed Services team provides 24/7 monitoring of installed third party high availability solutions, first- and second-level technical support, and automated monitoring at the FPSG Client Alert Center. The company's philosophy: Our mission is to make our clients' lives easier, more successful, and more profitable. Our professional team of caring, accountable, and technically talented professionals sees our clients as deserving excellence in the services and solutions we offer.

 

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