AUSTIN, Texas – June 15, 2005 – St. Edward’s University has recently completed the introductory stages of an ambitious master plan to propel their learning facilities into the 21st century. The rapid growth of the university has put a priority on the construction of new residence halls, classroom space, office space and renovation to numerous facilities. As a result, the university has partnered with Data Foundry TM to upgrade their networks and disaster recovery services in preparation for the upcoming changes in both infrastructure and bandwidth demands.
“Just a few years ago, St. Edward’s systems were not nearly as Internet dependent as we are today; we could afford to have downtime,” notes Bill Cahill, vice president of information systems for St. Edward’s. “Now, we need to be up and running without a delay, which require us to continuously mirror our data and applications with hot-site replication services.”
St. Edward’s first tapped Data Foundry, then known as Texas.Net, in early 2001 for their Managed Internet Services, they increased bandwidth and sought services to support more stringent business continuity needs. “It didn’t take long to figure out there was a great match between St. Edward’s growth plans and Data Foundry’s proven capabilities,”Cahill recalls. “Looking at all of our parameters – price, reliability, professionalism – Data Foundry put the competition away early.”
Data Foundry also worked with St. Edward’s to set up hot-site disaster recovery services at a safe, off-site location: Data Foundry’s Tier-1 Disaster Recovery Campus in Austin, Texas. The Austin campus includes five levels of security, biometric access controls and a digital-video recording surveillance system. The campus also incorporates redundant uninterrupted power supplies and HVAC units, two generators and high-sensitivity smoke detection systems that can detect a fire up to 30 minutes before smoke or flame.
“St. Edward’s represents an ideal customer for Data Foundry; they require reliable delivery of Internet services and high availability of mission critical applications in an enterprise Disaster Recovery facility. With a 10 year track record of providing managed Internet services, we are in a unique position to offer turnkey Internet Connectivity and Disaster Recovery Services all backed by industry leading Service Level Agreements.” said Jonah Yokubaitis, CEO and co-founder of Data Foundry.
“Data Foundry provided us with a one stop shopping approach to our Internet bandwidth and Disaster Recovery needs.” Cahill notes. “Having a single point of contact for these services offers a level of convenience and usability you simply can’t find with other providers.”
About St. Edward’s University
Founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, St. Edward’s University has been named as one of America’s Best Colleges for 2005 by U.S. News & World Report and was selected by The Princeton Review for inclusion in the guide Colleges with a Conscience. St. Edward’s is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university of approximately 4,650 students located in Austin, Texas.