IUG 2008 Day 1 pt.. 2

After the Keynote I attended a session titled "WebBridge Strategies, Tips & Tricks" which is obviously very relevant to what I'm presently working on. I picked a few valuable tips that I will be able to implement in our iteration of WebBridge including adding a WebBridge link on a no-hit search result page and I have a much clearer understanding of how and when to use what are called "category suppression rules" which allow a particular category to be suppressed when another is "active" and vice-versa.

The following session I attended was called "What's Up With Hardware?" which was presented by Doug Randall a VP from Innovative in charge of Product Technology. Doug's sessions are always mandatory as far as I'm concerned because he is in the position to give us a good idea of what is coming down the road in terms of hardware and other infrastructure to support Innovative systems. A few point from Doug's talk:

• Server life is 3-5 years maximum. Start planning for your next server as year 3 rolls around.
• The server that we just purchased last year from III, a Sun V245, is being replaced as the turnkey server option this year with a Linux-based Intel system. In general, Millennium doesn't care which kind of server that it runs on, so Innovative's change to Linux servers in no way means that our Sun server is obsolete in any way. They are just adapting to the server options available in the larger marketplace. One significant improvement with the new Linux servers will be the incorporation of hardware RAID to replace the less-efficient and more CPU-intensive software RAID that TOPCAT currently uses for data storage.
• Innovative is making a new service available called ServerPlus which is a new program in which Innovative builds the cost of server replacement into yearly maintenance fees. So instead of paying separately for a new server every 3-4 years, you simply receive a new server when III deems it necessary. This service also includes all installation, setup and Force Majure insurance coverage. This means that if the server is damaged for ANY reason, that III will replace it free of charge. Then with each new server your receive you also get:

• Re-indexing
• A workshop registration
• A WebOPAC Refresher

• This new product is obviously meant to help libraries more easily plan financially for inevitable server replacement by building the cost into annual maintenance and be able to have server replacement part of the operating budget.