SDI Selected to Deliver Enterprise Network Monitoring for Chicago Public Schools

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SDI's Customizable Solution Delivers Unprecedented Visibility into Network Health Across 637 Schools; On-line Trending Tools Allows for Proactive, Cost-Efficient Approach to Network Management

CHICAGO, November 9, 2010 -- SDI (System Development.Integration, LLC), a systems integrator specializing in mission-critical public sector technologies and infrastructure, announces that it has been contracted by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to provide enterprise-wide network monitoring , spanning 637 schools, 23,000 devices, and 2 data centers. This three year, $3.7MM project delivers a comprehensive network monitoring solution that automatically alerts CPS support staff of network issues, and proactively identifies potential problem conditions before an outage results.

SDI customized NimSoft, an industry-leading network monitoring system featured in Gartner, Inc.'s 2009 IT Event Correlation and Analysis Magic Quadrant, to manage network performance data specific to CPS's needs, while capturing historical network trends. SDI delivered a proof of concept environment in July demonstrating the solution's capacity to handle the large CPS' environment, which includes routers, switches, servers, access points, firewalls, and internet devices. Upon program roll-out, the SDI Team conducted an electronic enterprise-wide inventory of CPS' infrastructure assets that concurrently satisfied the District's monitoring and related E-Rate compliance requirements.

SDI customized dashboards for CPS management, allowing the network assets to be examined at various levels, including at the device level, by school, or by CPS-designed school cluster maps. Selected CPS support staff automatically receives alerts via e-mail or service center trouble ticket, with correlated network information indicating the nature and severity of the problem. SDI also delivered tailored reporting on network performance, utilization and availability, allowing management to examine network traffic, device CPU utilization, school connectivity to the CPS WAN, and the health of other central office devices. SDI's experienced network operations staff manages the advanced monitoring system on a 24x7 basis, offering CPS recommendations on system improvements and on-going analysis of contracted service vendor performance.

"With this in-depth level of visibility, CPS can proactively manage its network environment to keep teachers and students connected to vital educational resources," states Robert Kettell, SDI SVP of Networks and Infrastructure. "CPS support staff has quicker access to a wide range of network performance data, and can correlate the impact of one device's performance on neighboring devices via on-line analyses. The SDI monitoring solution allows large clients like CPS to cost-efficiently forecast and plan future investments, by knowing where and why network failures and over-utilization occurs."

SDI offers CPS over 19 years of experience in designing, deploying and managing complex, large-scale, mission-critical infrastructure for government organizations. The firm has a specialization in E-Rate technology delivery, most recently building a highly-resilient, advanced wide area network connecting 51 schools and administrative locations for the Department of Education of the Virgin Islands, covering 3 islands and spanning 43 miles of adverse environmental conditions.

SDI is on schedule to deliver enhanced functionality to CPS, integrating additional network management utilities with the current system including an advanced network traffic analyzer, device configuration management for 23,000 Cisco and CheckPoint devices, and Customized DNS and DHCP monitoring.

About SDI

SDI is a systems integrator that fuses information technology, security, operations and facility management to support critical organization systems and data by providing advisory services, technology delivery and SmartSourcing^SM long-term support. With substantial private and public sector experience, SDI provides vendor-independent services and support to our nation’s critical environments to achieve a higher level of security, increase productivity and reduce operating costs. SDI embodies the technical breadth, depth of talent, and complex systems experience of a national, top-tier systems integrator - with a reputation of sticking with our projects until our obligations are met and our clients are successful. For more than 19 years, we’ve been there for our clients, and people are taking notice. Visit us at www.sdienterprises.com.