Furthering the "Talent Behind the Technology!"

In an effort to continually provide SIS customers the true "talent behind the technology," SIS is proud to announce an additional TOGAF certification to our team! Patrick Angle recently completed his certification work, which will only add to his years of technology experience and abilities to develop only the best architecture solutions!

The TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM), is a comprehensive, open method for enterprise architecture. TOGAF ADM complements and can be used in conjunction with all major frameworks.

The Open Group’s architecture framework, TOGAF, and TOGAF ADM have been developed and continuously evolved since the mid-90’s by The Open Group Architecture Forum, which consists of representatives of some of the world’s leading IT customer and vendor organizations.

To learn more about Patrick Angle and his abilities, be sure to check out his profile video. Or contact us directly to explore how SIS can help with all your technology needs at info@thinksis.com

Local firm Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) moves up one spot from previous year.

Local technology firm Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) has been ranked as the 4th best place to work in “The Best Places to Work in Kentucky” for 2010. SIS was a repeat winner from last year, when they ranked 5th in their first appearance on the list. The honor, given out at the Lexington Convention Center during an awards banquet, signifies SIS as rating extremely high in multiple areas, as scored by their own employees.

Winners from across the state have been selected in two categories: small/medium-sized (companies of 25 to 249 employees) and large-sized (companies of 250 employees or greater). SIS was a winner in the small/medium-sized category. The selection process, managed by Best Companies Group, is based on an assessment of the company’s employee policies and procedures and the results of an internal employee survey. The survey feedback that all participating companies receive enables them to develop the plans and implement the steps necessary to create a great workplace and continue to improve the performance of their business.

Numerous studies show a strong correlation between profitability and creating a good place to work. The Best Places to Work in Kentucky initiative is based on the famous FORTUNE magazine “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” list. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Kentucky has more than 14,000 privately-owned establishments with 20 or more employees. The goal of Best Places to Work in Kentucky is to raise the bar among the state’s employers and create excellence and employee satisfaction in the workplace that will attract talented people for years to come.

“SIS making the list for a second time was a thrill. Moving up one spot to number 4 was just a huge honor. In addition to serving our customers, we do our best to make SIS a unique and interesting place to work,” said Steve Sigg, Chief Executive Officer of SIS.

SIS was also recently awarded the first ever IBM Lotus Marketing Award, recognizing SIS as a rising star amongst its peers in the IBM Business Partner Community. Founded in 1982, SIS is a regional technology solutions provider, headquartered in Lexington, KY, with additional offices in Louisville and London, KY, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Charleston, WV, and Novi, MI.

Software Information Systems Receives Certification to Become an Authorized Seller of IBM Software

SIS has achieved certification to become an Authorized seller of IBM software by meeting the skills requirements of the new IBM Software Value Plus initiative.

SIS was also recently named the winner of the first ever IBM Lotus Marketing Award for outstanding and innovative marketing programs based around the Lotus Brand. This award comes on the heels of SIS winning the coveted IBM North America Lotus Distinguished Partner of the Year Award last year.

The IBM Software Value Plus initiative is designed to meet the demands of clients who are looking to drive more value from their technology investments by working with trusted partners with proven skills to quickly and effectively implement new infrastructures. IBM Software Value Plus enables IBM Business Partners to set themselves apart by gaining key technical and industry skills necessary for smarter technology implementations that help clients achieve their business goals.

“IBM is committed to supporting an ecosystem of skilled partners that can provide the most value to our shared clients," said Sandy Carter, vice president, IBM Software Group Channels. “Business Partners who invest in the proper skills and expertise are well positioned to help clients achieve a faster time-to-value with the right solutions, reduce risk in solution development, and increase their return on investment over time.”

“Under this new Authorization model, our Clients can be confident that they are working with a partner who has invested in strong skills, helping them to achieve greater business value from their IBM software investments,” said Kirsten Craft, Chief Operating Officer for SIS. “SIS applauds IBM for listening to their partners and taking on such a significant effort to adapt to the changing marketplace.”

To help educate their Clients on how IBM’s new Software Value Plus initiative affects them, SIS published a short YouTube video in November of 2009. The video is accessible on the SIS YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/thinksis.

IBM Software Value Plus rewards Business Partners who invest in skills and expertise and are focused on delivering greater client value. Under the initiative, IBM Software partners choose on which IBM software to build technical, marketing and sales skills, such as WebSphere, Information Management, Tivoli, Lotus and Rational. Partners can become certified and authorized to sell these products across multiple industries.

Founded in 1982, SIS is a regional technology solutions provider, headquartered in Lexington, KY, with additional offices in Louisville and London, KY, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Charleston, WV, and Michigan.

North American Stainless Deploys DataCore Storage Virtualization Software with VMware for a Completely Virtual Infrastructure

VMware vSphere and DataCore Software’s Storage Virtualization Are Making Both Disaster Recovery and “Hands Free” Maintenance Possible at One of North America’s Largest Stainless Steel Manufacturers

GHENT, Ky. & FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DataCore Software, a leading provider of storage virtualization, business continuity and disaster recovery software solutions, today announced its SANmelody storage virtualization solution has been deployed along with VMware vSphere at one of the world’s premiere providers of stainless steel – North American Stainless in Ghent, Kentucky. The company’s IT department was trying to cope with an already increasing server spiral that encompassed ten (10) servers – all of which were over five years old. “We felt VMware would give us more options than simply adding more physical servers,” stated Judy Pieper-Young, Manager – Information Systems, North American Stainless. “Now with VMware combined with DataCore, we can simply add more virtual machines on-the-fly and it only costs us a new server license – instead of having to purchase a whole new physical box.”

A Virtual Infrastructure That Delivers Value as Promised

The IT landscape has gone a diet, so to speak, since the advent of virtualization at North American Stainless. Today, the company relies on four (4) physical servers and 35 virtual machines (VMs). The system supports 1,400 end-users.

“The appeal for us in going virtual in terms of servers was straightforward,” explained Pieper-Young. “Knowing that we were facing a situation where we were in need of adding even more servers – we chose to embrace virtualization so that we could actually reduce the number of physical servers. But we did not want to stop at servers. In order to achieve a completely virtual infrastructure, we selected DataCore along with VMware to serve as a total virtual infrastructure spanning both servers and storage.”

North American Stainless manufactures stainless steel 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year. Therefore, beyond an initial desire to add more capacity by adding virtual storage to the mix was an overarching objective to have a disaster recovery plan in place. For disaster recovery, the company now has two SANmelody nodes that are mirrored so as to offer synchronous replication. “If for any reason we have a server crash, the virtual infrastructure enables us to get up and running within seconds,” noted Pieper-Young.

The two, redundant SANmelody SANs – that are mirrored – are connected to redundant switches that are in turn connected to four VMware ESX hosts to remove any single point of failure. Now North American Stainless has redundant, high-availability SANs that are synchronous – connected with a direct-attached fibre link. With this in place, the company can withstand a full hardware failure at a server level, at a switch level as well as a SAN level and still be up and running, in production. Other than a facility failure, North American Stainless now has 100% uptime.

The IT Landscape – Virtualization Powers Mission-Critical Applications

The virtual infrastructure powered by VMware and DataCore supports the company’s Oracle ERP system servers (including payroll), several SQL servers, Blackberry® server, fax servers, print servers as well as user data. The ability to add VMs “on-the-fly” was a primary objective in going virtual. This is made possible through the combination of VMware vSphere’s live migration functionality and the DataCore SAN. With VMware and DataCore run in tandem, the IT team at North American Stainless is able to do testing on applications and do so in way that the any testing procedures for new applications are segmented from the overall system. This is accomplished with DataCore SANmelody serving as a complete virtual storage infrastructure and storage management system – whereby multiple terabytes of storage can be both partitioned in units for a specific use as well as aggregated for general consumption.

Both SANmelody nodes are running on IBM 3650 servers as are the VMs on the two additional servers.

No Large Support Team Required

For 1,400 users that the IT staff is charged with supporting, the IT computer operations team consists only of a Network Analyst, an Operations Analyst, two Help Desk analysts, a Computer Operations Supervisor and an IT Manager. All of the maintenance and management required to support the virtual infrastructure is now done in one place – and that is through DataCore through SANmelody.

Trusted Solution Provider Software Information Systems (SIS)

“When we first engaged with North American Stainless, they had isolated, stand-alone servers with local storage on each server – and this was growing,” explained Pat Sigg, Regional Vice President of Sales at Software Information Systems (SIS), a DataCore partner. “What was needed was a storage sub-system with the flexibility and high-availability needed to support a virtual environment.”

SIS wanted to deploy VMware and was convinced that to get the most out of the virtual machines running on the virtual infrastructure that shared storage was needed as the underpinning for everything. SIS saw the implementation at North American Stainless as an integrated approach that was “all in” in terms of a fully virtual environment – servers and storage- for its customer.

“It was clear to us that the storage sub-system had to provide extra functionality and it was also clear that any of the hardware-based, fibre appliances were going to be well into six figures in price,” added Sigg. “This was not the path that we or the customer sought to take. Instead, what we found in DataCore’s portable, software-based, SANmelody SAN solution was that it offered all the functionality needed – including high availability and zero points of failure – all at reasonable cost. For the price point, what you get in functionality with DataCore convinced us and sold the customer.”

Virtualization Taking Off – Virtual Infrastructure Takes Hold in Other Departments

In North American Stainless’ Level II area, the manufacturer’s machinery is hooked to devices – such as product lifecycle management (PLM) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) – that serve as IT systems which do nothing short of run the production at the plant. This department is also putting in an entirely virtual infrastructure as well – also encompassing both servers and storage. These truly mission-critical, manufacturing-centric, IT systems will now run on the VMware-DataCore virtual infrastructure too.

About North American Stainless

Founded in 1990, North American Stainless is fulfilling its promise to be the finest stainless steel producing mill in the Western Hemisphere. North American Stainless, part of the Acerinox Group of companies, is situated on 1100 acres in Carroll County, Kentucky. For more, visit www.northamericanstainless.com.

About Software Information Systems (SIS)

Celebrating 27 years of service to its 600+ clients across the Midwest, SIS has been providing cross platform information technology and IT solutions since 1982. SIS has created customizable packages to address their customers’ need for simple-to-use and flexible virtualization solutions. SIS currently has sales and technical services specialists holding over 100 certifications in solution areas such as server consolidation, server virtualization, high availability, SAN architecture as well as enterprise storage and backup strategy. Product offerings include IBM (Premier Business Partner), Microsoft (Gold Certified), Lotus, Citrix, VMware (VAC) and DataCore.

About DataCore Software

DataCore Software, a leading provider of storage virtualization software solutions, fundamentally changes the economics of managing storage with innovative software that combines advanced functions and services with the agility and savings of hardware independence. DataCore lowers the cost and complexity of IT by making storage efficient, fast, flexible, fail-safe and virtual. For more information, call (877) 780-5111 or visit http://www.datacore.com.

DataCore, SANmelody and the DataCore logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of DataCore Software Corporation. Other DataCore product or service names or logos referenced herein are trademarks of DataCore Software Corporation. All other products, services and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Local Company Wins International Award

Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) recognized by IBM for excellence in product marketing

Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) is the recipient of the first ever IBM Lotus Marketing Award for outstanding and innovative marketing programs based around the Lotus Brand. This award comes on the heels of SIS winning the coveted IBM North America Lotus Distinguished Partner of the Year Award last year.

Reflecting Lotus's emphasis on social networking concepts, the award recognizes a single IBM Business Partner who executes exceptional marketing programs or campaigns that use video as a medium to convey the value of Lotus offerings and solutions. Special consideration was given to business partners who added humor and creativity to their video and utilized it as an effective way to generate interest and demand. To win the award, SIS competed against numerous companies from around the world.

The SIS Software and Consulting team came up with a series of videos titled "Emmitt Knows" that showcases the features and functions of the IBM Lotus solution package. The video was required to be less than three minutes long and articulate SIS's point of view on what Lotus knows, demonstrating how SIS brings added value to the solution.

"We are very honored to receive this award, which underscores SIS's commitment to providing creative and useful collaboration solutions for our clients," said Kirsten Craft, Chief Operating Officer of SIS. The winning video highlights how SIS leverages Lotus Connections to rapidly organize project teams. The video is posted publicly on SIS's YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/thinksis.

Founded in 1982, SIS is a regional technology solutions provider, headquartered in Lexington, KY, with additional offices in Louisville and London, KY, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, Charleston, WV, and Michigan.

IBM's Software Value Plus

On November 3, 2009, IBM announced a major change in the way that IBM software will be purchased. The changes will go into effect January 25, 2010

Find out more...

SIS Announces Opening of Columbus, Ohio Office

Local firm Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) expands in Ohio

Software Information Systems, LLC, announced today, April 1, 2009, the opening of its Columbus, Ohio office. The new office is a part of the technology solution provider's expansion goals for Ohio.

SIS also is announcing the hiring of Ann Henderson as an Account Executive. Ann will be based in Columbus and serve customers in the Columbus metropolitan area. Ann has extensive experience in selling and supporting technology based solutions having spent 24 years working in similar capacities at IBM.

Commenting on the expansion, SIS VP of Sales for Ohio, Steve Griffen, said, "We are very excited to have someone with Ann Henderson's local knowledge and industry experience joining our SIS team. We believe the SIS approach towards delivering technology solutions will be very popular for companies and institutions in the Columbus area."

"I am thrilled and excited to join the SIS team. I am looking forward to continuing my work in the Columbus area and hope to show new customers the strengths SIS brings to the table," said Henderson.

SIS was also recently awarded the IBM Lotus Distinguished Partner of the Year, recognizing SIS as a rising star amongst its peers in the IBM Business Partner Community. Founded in 1982, SIS is a regional technology solutions provider, headquartered in Lexington, KY, with additional offices in Cincinnati, OH, Louisville and London, KY, Indianapolis, IN, and Charleston, WV. For additional information, contact Patrick Cashman, Director of Marketing, SIS, LLC at (859) 977-4793.

SIS wins IBM Lotus Distinguished Partner of the Year Award for 2008

IBM recognizes local partner Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) with Award for Outstanding Achievement in the world of Lotus Software

Local technology partner Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) has received the IBM Lotus Distinguished Partner of the Year award, 2008 for North America. The honor, given out at IBM's annual Lotusphere conference in Orlando, FL, was one of only 6 such awards worldwide (North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Japan, Europe Northeast, Europe Southwest) and signifies SIS as a rising star amongst its peers in the IBM Business Partner Community. The award is based on outstanding customer satisfaction and growth performance, along with the ability to open new local markets, and to maintain a positive stature in the Business Partner community. For this year's prestigious award, hundreds of applications from over 30 countries around the world were submitted. Awarded partners are considered to have a significant impact on Lotus' position in the marketplace.

SIS's win was unique in that it recognized the value of blending a Microsoft practice with established IBM expertise. A strong IBM software and services partner since the mid-1990's, SIS invested in Microsoft skills and earned a Microsoft Gold Partner status in 2006. Instead of launching separate business units for each of the two technologies, SIS embraced a strategy of interoperability and co-existence of the two technologies, recognizing that many of their clients truly have needs for both. This unique approach of combining both IBM and Microsoft skill sets within the same practice enables SIS to provide companies with objective, best-of-breed expertise across multiple platforms. "This recognition of SIS's commitment to IBM software is truly a great honor. We've always felt strongly that offering objective expertise across multiple platforms just made good sense, even when that was not a popular stance with our suppliers. It's a wonderful thing to see that strategy and our investments in skills paying off," said Kirsten Craft, Chief Operating Officer of SIS.

"It is their focus on customer value, driven by solutions and expertise across the product line, that gives SIS the unique ability to succeed in a very difficult marketplace," said Rick Klein, IBM Central Region Business Unit Executive.

Founded in 1982, SIS is a regional technology solutions provider, headquartered in Lexington, KY, with additional offices in Louisville and London, KY, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, and Charleston, WV. For additional information, contact Patrick Cashman, Director of Marketing, SIS, LLC at (859) 977-4793

Learn more about SIS's software solutions.

IBM takes notice of SIS's implementation of a complete IBM-based storage solution for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company Selects IBM Storage and Servers

One of the nation's nationally recognized premier community banks, has selected IBM (NYSE: IBM) systems to power a new backup-and-recovery solution.

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company began in Louisville's stockyard district more than 100 years ago and recently expanded to Indianapolis and Cincinnati. "The backup and recovery system installed by IBM and IBM Business Partner Software Information Systems, is providing greater reliability and has improved our operational efficiency," said Jim Condra, Stock Yards chief information officer. "We chose to replace our Hewlett-Packard servers and storage systems with IBM hardware largely because of the expertise of the IBM and SIS team that helped us."

The backup and recovery solution is based on IBM System x3650 servers, a storage area network (SAN) based on IBM System Storage EXP3000 expansion units, and VMware virtualization software. Software Information Systems (SIS), an IBM Premier Business Partner, worked closely with IBM and managed the solution installation, configuration and associated training.

"IBM provided Stock Yards Bank & Trust with a customized backup-and-recovery solution that fit their budget and provides an easy-to-use solution that reduces administrative costs and energy use," said Jeannette Browning, IBM client representative.

About Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company Stock Yards Bank was established in 1904 in Louisville, Kentucky and has offices in the Louisville metropolitan area, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. As of December 31, 2008 the bank had $1.6 billion in assets.

About IBM General Business IBM provides a comprehensive line of offerings for small and midsize companies including services, software and hardware. For more information on IBM Express Advantage solutions for the mid-market, visit our Small and Medium Business page (www.ibm.com/expressadvantage).

About Software Information Systems SIS is an award-winning Technology Solution Provider that has been helping clients leverage technology for more than 25 years.

SIS named one of "The Best Places to Work in Kentucky" for 2008

Local firm Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) wins award for first time.

Local technology firm Software Information Systems, LLC (SIS) has been named one of "The Best Places to Work in Kentucky" for 2008. The honor, given out during the first quarter of 2009, signifies SIS as rating extremely high in multiple areas, as scored by their own employees.

Winners from across the state have been selected in two categories: small/medium-sized (companies of 25 to 249 employees) and large-sized (companies of 250 employees or greater). SIS was a winner in the small/medium-sized category. The selection process, managed by Best Companies Group, is based on an assessment of the company's employee policies and procedures and the results of an internal employee survey. The survey feedback that all participating companies receive enables them to develop the plans and implement the steps necessary to create a great workplace and continue to improve the performance of their business. The actual rankings will be announced at an awards dinner Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at the Lexington Convention Center in downtown Lexington.

Numerous studies show a strong correlation between profitability and creating a good place to work. The Best Places to Work in Kentucky initiative is based on the famous FORTUNE magazine "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" list. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Kentucky has more than 14,000 privately-owned establishments with 20 or more employees. The goal of Best Places to Work in Kentucky is to raise the bar among the state's employers and create excellence and employee satisfaction in the workplace that will attract talented people for years to come.

"This recognition of SIS's commitment to our employees is truly a great honor. We've always felt strongly that our people are what make us special. In addition to serving our customers, we do our best to make SIS a unique and interesting place to work," said Steve Sigg, Chief Executive Officer of SIS.

SIS was also recently awarded the IBM Lotus Distinguished Partner of the Year, recognizing SIS as a rising star amongst its peers in the IBM Business Partner Community. Founded in 1982, SIS is a regional technology solutions provider, headquartered in Lexington, KY, with additional offices in Louisville and London, KY, Cincinnati, OH, Indianapolis, IN, and Charleston, WV. For additional information, contact Patrick Cashman, Director of Marketing, SIS, LLC at (859) 977-4793.