Challenge:
As a proud Oklahoma-founded business, the following case study holds a special place in our hearts.
Founded in 1996, the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation was created with a simple vision: teach the world what happened, commemorate the tragedy and offer serenity.
The Outdoor Symbolic Memorial is situated where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood, and is a place of reflection for visitors. The Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum is adjacent to the memorial and is an interactive learning museum, which takes visitors through the details of the story – heavily relying on digital artifacts.
Attracting thousands of visitors each year since being dedicated, the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum communicates a crucial message to those who visit. In order to communicate this message effectively to a new generation, the memorial museum decided that it was time to grow.
Through a $7 million renovation and upgrade, the museum is giving their facilities a complete overhaul. As part of this upgrade, museum staff agreed that it was also time to update their audio and visual infrastructure. Being an interactive museum, the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum features hundreds of hours of video footage and other various media.
For years, the museum has relied upon a storage area network and a server infrastructure that had become outdated. Their primary goal was to digitize their mountain of media, much of which was still in VHS format.
To support the new digital media, they would need completely updated network infrastructure designed for speedy and reliable access with minimal interruption or downtime. Knowing all too well the unpredictable nature of disasters, the memorial museum also sought a reliable backup and disaster recovery solution to keep the valuable information safe.
Solution:
When the foundation asked for help, InterWorks answered the call with the perfect solutions for their IT needs.
InterWorks recommended replacing their old storage area network with a best-of-breed Dell Compellent SAN coupled with a Microsoft Hyper-V Cluster. In conjunction with the new underlying hardware, InterWorks suggested a much-needed server and software refresh in order to better host and drive the media shown in kiosks and other interactive portions of the museum.
To connect everything together at speeds capable of handling all of their audio and video content, InterWorks planned to implement a 10 GbE network backbone between each floor of the museum.
Rounding things off, the Solution Architects at InterWorks set up replication of all infrastructure and media to an offsite Dell PowerVault array – powered by AppAssure technology. This would ensure that all of their data and media is secure from loss should their production environment or main facility become compromised.
The foundation used a grant from Cox to purchase the new infrastructure and InterWorks took care of its implementation and installation.
Results:
The complete IT infrastructure overhaul by InterWorks was exactly what the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation needed to bolster museum operations.
The new storage solution allows the foundation to store their droves of media in one convenient, accessible and reliable location. In addition, the scalability of the solution gives the organization a sustainable future capable of supporting continued growth.
By enhancing their virtualization efforts, the museum greatly reduced overhead while achieving greater efficiency and reliability in their datacenter. Of course, the upgraded networking allows rapid access to all media throughout the museum.
All of these improvements enhance the delivery of interactive media within the museum, creating a more enjoyable experience for visitors with less strain on the museum’s IT infrastructure. Finally, a new disaster recovery solution brings peace of mind knowing that all vital media is safeguarded.
Throughout the project, InterWorks donated many services free of charge. The new state-of-the-art upgrade isn’t just improving the museum’s day-to-day operations; it’s helping communicate their message to the world.
Visitors to the newly-renovated museum will now experience the story of the Oklahoma City Bombing tragedy like never before. The new IT infrastructure empowers the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation to focus on what they do best: sharing the message that Oklahoma will live strong, despite such tragic events.
“We are so grateful to our partners at InterWorks. The team members we have worked with are talented and professional, but above all, determined. The generosity InterWorks has shown to the memorial has grown a partnership that both of us can be proud of.”
– DUSTIN POTTER, DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY & ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS
