With a budget of £100m and a staff of 3,000, Glasgow Life* is one of Scotland’s largest charities, delivering a range of services which help to transform the lives of both citizens and tourists alike.
The charity provides services on behalf of Glasgow City Council, with responsibility for the city’s arts, libraries, museums, sport and culture. With such a diverse portfolio managing IT is often challenging and complex. For example, some 4,000 people use the city’s 600 public library PC’s on a daily basis which was proving to be a maintenance and security headache for the organisation.
In response to the challenge of managing the libraries’ PC’s, which are spread across 34 locations, Tycom Limited created a Public Access Computer Suite (PAC) providing, amongst other features, secure and protected access to the Internet services available from the local libraries. Managed from a centralised service site, the PAC system enabled efficient management of all the PC’s, eradicating the need for engineers constantly visiting each location to upgrade and manage the PC’s.
In addition, tycom implemented a deepfreeze system, again centrally controlled from a web console, enabling the PC’s to be cleared of any software, files or viruses downloaded onto the PC each time it is rebooted. A number of firewalls were also introduced and all the software upgraded ensuring continuity across all 34 locations.
John Tolland, ICT Manager, Glasgow Life said, “Often people can be accessing or amending confidential information on the library computers, such as job applications. However, once someone has finished using a computer their material is now automatically wiped clean and the computer rebooted. No files can be saved.”
With a limited backup system in place, Glasgow Life also had a requirement to create as fool-proof a data recovery system as possible and tycom was awarded a second contract in a competitive tendering process.
As a result, tycom created one of the largest disaster recovery systems of its kind in the city.
The new system, which features technology from CommVault and Hewlett-Packard, looks after three key city hubs, located at Trongate, Mitchell Library and the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre. It covers 1400 computers spread across 82 sites, including 34 libraries, 26 leisure centres, 9 museums, 5 area team offices and the 3 hubs.
The seamless back-up system provides a triangular flow of data across the three hubs ensuring that there is no duplication on back-up and data is efficiently archived. Protection of data is paramount and the tri-back up infrastructure means that the first line backup in each location is supported by a secondary copy which is sent offsite. De-duplication of data and efficient archiving ensures competent storage. John Tolland added, “Managing a disaster recovery system of this size has been taxing however, tycom delivered a cost effective and comprehensive resolution, providing us with the confidence and peace of mind we need for an organisation of our size.”
*Glasgow Life was formerly known as Culture and Sport Glasgow. Further information is available from www.glasgowlife.org.uk.