May 6, 2010

Gates Hudson is excited to announce that we have recently upgraded our core computer systems. 

Our 10 production servers now run in a virtual environment using 3 Dell R710 servers with 48 gigs of memory and 24 CPU's.  Using Dell's "High Availability" model, the 3 servers are equipped to automatically failover with (Vmotion) from VMware.  Switches, power-supplies and network cards are now triple redundant  along with the the "Raid 10" Storage Array. The new Gates Hudson servers now have a 12 Terabyte capacity and have 5 separate data protection schemes, including 2 offsite storage sites.

Our systems are protected by a new ASA 5510 Cisco firewall and our Network Manager has recently earned an Ethical Hacker designation.   Twin Microsoft Terminal Server 2008 R2 servers with  Barracuda load balancing, provide communication services to field offices, using standard Remote Desktop Connection for Windows. Incoming line speed has increased to 50 megabits per second with triple redundant internet provider services.   E-mail systems are now upgraded to Exchange 2010 providing our managers with the latest communication tools.

Our Jenark powered Property Management software runs in Linux environment with a Progress database and is now in its third generation with a new Dashboard interface.  This software has been installed at Gates Hudson for 16 years with a 99.999% uptime.   Another great feature of the Jenark software is that it has the capability of automatically e-mailing monthly reports to designated e-mail addresses, data storage services, or to a specific Websites as needed. Capabilities now include TracerPro  integration allowing managers to do workorders with their PDA phones, synchronizing in real time to the Jenark Server.  

The  database is now tested for integrity by a third party contractor and the implementation of full-scale invoice scanning is moving us closer to our paperless office goal.

All Jenark users enjoy the option of linking live data to an Association Voice powered website.  Residents or Board members can review financial data on-line and homeowners can check their account balance, pay their assessment, place a work request or input an Architecture Change Request on-line.

This year GHA has also rolled out a virtual environment for site business centers and is in the planning stages of virtualizing our desktop PC inventory, implementing a SharePoint portal and establishing a cloud-based disaster SAS  70 Type II certified recovery site  .  

Howard Murphy

Vice-President of Information Technologies