Although there was nothing inherently problematic about Veritas' proposal, it was weak on actual implementation instructions. We were simply provided with descriptions of software and a terse overview of its operating philosophy. Left to the imagination was any sort of description of how and where the components were to be implemented in the existing infrastructure of Darwin's, something that a newbie to the Veritas approach might need to have spelled out in greater detail. Also notably absent from the Veritas bid was any mention of how it would meet requirements for data security, data hygiene and capability testing.
We did the math without instruction as to the actual deployment of the recommended software components and came up with $191,235 in software licenses and implementation-support services (11x$17,385) for the headquarters site alone. Additionally, an annual 24/7 technical-support contract plus training services came to $24,854 in Year 1. So, not even considering the licenses, implementation support and tech support for servers at the remote site, the price tag was already $216,089.
Veritas also recommended that Darwin's deploy its Cluster Server to provide application failover. Clustering was optional in the Veritas bid, and we were given no guidance on whether some or all of our servers would require the Cluster Server package, so our math may be sketchy. According to the vendor, the Cluster Server would cost Darwin's $8,995 per server, installed, plus an annual tech-support contract for all clustering technologies for $1,033 per server. Global Cluster Manager, with installation, priced out at $12,290 per site. Thus, the Veritas bid grew by another $134,888, excluding hardware and Cluster Server software costs for implementation at the recovery site, to a total of $350,997. Still, without the additional cluster technology, Veritas' bid was in line with Softek's, so we didn't ding it.
The vendor promised to implement the core host software-based solution, excluding the clustering technologies, within three days. Overall, we got the sense that the little 56-TB data-replication problem confronting Darwin's had elicited scarcely more than a yawn from Big V.
Veritas Software, (866) 837-4827, (650) 527-8000. www.veritas.com
Because Computer Associates led off with a summary containing a partially flawed premise--that Darwin's wanted to replicate critical data from all remote offices to its central site--we worried that CA's lengthy proposal might be off on the wrong foot. We were pleasantly surprised when this proved not to be the case.
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