JERSEY CITY, NJ--(Marketwired - Apr 30, 2013) - Datapipe, a global provider of managed services and infrastructure for outsourced IT and cloud computing, today announced that the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has chosen the company's hosting and managed services to alleviate IT burden and allow the IRC to better focus on their humanitarian efforts. In addition, Datapipe recently submitted the IRC's IT services to Computerworld for consideration within the organization's Honors Program -- prompting a 2013 Computerworld Honors Laureate award. View the complete IRC case study here.
Operating in more than 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, the IRC is a leading humanitarian relief and development organization, responding to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helping uprooted people to survive and rebuild their lives. In 2012, the IRC gave 1.4 million people access to clean drinking water and sanitation, provided 14 million people with primary healthcare and vaccinated 292,000 children against disease.
The IRC's IT infrastructure supports 150 offices across 40 countries and the company's IT staff manages more than 6,000 user mailboxes that share mission-critical files and logistical information. Initially based in midtown Manhattan, the IRC's data center began to show its age in 2011.
As part of a necessary upgrade, the IRC sought to offload Microsoft Exchange Management , enabling the IT staff to focus on more strategic tasks. Also high on the list was an effective disaster recovery plan, as the current system offered little redundancy and no backup power.
"Our biggest concern was downtime, so any migration plans had to be handled carefully," said Michael Boeglin, Director of Global Infrastructure. "We're not just dealing with migrating one office, but also remote locations backed by sometimes intermittent satellite link communications. Datapipe was the only one to guarantee minimal downtime throughout our upgrade -- and they delivered."
The organization chose to leverage Datapipe's Exchange-as-a-Service offering. The service delivers a secure, consistent and efficiently managed messaging infrastructure, configured to enhance global communications. In addition, the service is built upon Microsoft Exchange with fully-managed administration services, which include: 24 x 7 x 365 monitoring and support, diagnostics, problem resolution, migration, patching and upgrades for critical messaging applications. The IRC maintains control of core business applications and network management, but relies on Datapipe for Microsoft Exchange, VMware farms, database clusters, backup and monitoring.
"For us, every minute of every day is consumed with helping those in need. Datapipe has effectively taken the IT burden off our plate -- letting us stick to what we do best -- saving lives," Boeglin concluded.
The IRC has been named a 2013 Computerworld Honors Laureate in an especially competitive year for the prestigious program. A panel of 22 distinguished judges -- many of them Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader Honorees from diverse industries -- evaluated the humanitarian benefits and measurable results of applying technology to meet a specific social or business need. Datapipe's IRC award submission was selected from more than 700 nominations to become one of 269 Laureates from 29 countries.
2013 Laureates, their guests and industry luminaries will attend a black tie Awards Ceremony and Dinner on Monday, June 3 at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. During this gala evening, the IRC's IT achievements will be recognized publicly, as each Laureate is presented with a medallion inscribed with the program's mission, "A Search for New Heroes."
About The Computerworld Honors Program Founded by International Data Group (IDG) in 1988, The Computerworld Honors Program is governed by the not-for-profit Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation. Computerworld Honors is the longest running global program to honor individuals and organizations that use information technology to promote positive social, economic and educational change. Additional information about the program and a Global Archive of past Laureate case studies and oral histories of Leadership Award recipients can be found at the Computerworld Honors website http://events.computerworld.com/2013Honors .
About Datapipe Datapipe offers a single provider solution for managing and securing mission-critical IT services, including cloud computing, infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, colocation and data centers. Datapipe delivers those services from the world's most influential technical and financial markets including New York metro, Silicon Valley, London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. For more information about Datapipe visit www.datapipe.com and follow the company on Facebook , Twitter , YouTube or LinkedIn .
For Datapipe Inquiries Contact: Joline Biancavilla Public Relations BridgeView Marketing Tel: 603-570-7539 joline@bridgeviewmarketing.com
