GSA adds Imation storage services

Government agencies seeking a way to implement a vendor-neutral, enterprise storage solution have a new option following today's announcement that Imation Corp.'s independent enterprise storage consulting and testing services have been added to the General Services Administration schedule.

Imation has storage architects and engineers that can design solutions to help government agencies address their storage challenges, said Bill Peldzus, storage consulting marketing manager at Imation.

The Imation vendor-neutral offering streamlines the buying process by enabling government information technology staff members to focus on defining business requirements, rather than specifying and buying a specific brand of storage networking technology, Peldzus said.

"Our vendor neutrality and independence fits really well with what government agencies want to do with consulting," Peldzus said. "As opposed to a company pushing their own product we're taking a 'what's best for you' approach."

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. used Imation's consultants and test lab on a program to implement a new storage-area network after consolidating seven sites into two. Imation also assisted the FDIC with planning and testing to ensure that current and future storage requirements were adequately addressed, Peldzus said.

The third phase of that project, a disaster-recovery assessment, will start this month and should be completed by the end of the year, he said.

Along with its storage consulting services, Imation also provides independent proof-of-concept testing services in its Storage Networking Lab. The lab does all testing in a working environment, enabling GSA to vary the storage configurations being tested and making it easier for government agencies to purchase turnkey consulting and testing services directly from the GSA schedule.

In addition to the FDIC, Imation also has government customers in the defense and intelligence communities and is expecting to announce more new wins in the fourth quarter, Peldzus said. He said assessments usually take four to six weeks to complete and a medium-size data center project costs from $50,000 to $100,000.

The Imation Storage Networking Lab is located at Imation's headquarters in Oakdale, Minn.