Critical SpeedCity of Baton Rouge puts Dell solution to work in public safety response environment

As a result of its location along the Mississippi River, the City of Baton Rouge is historically

significant. At various times it was under French, Spanish and English rule before the

City became a part of the Union in 1812 and the Louisiana State Capital in 1849. It

operates under a unique City-Parish Government structure which consolidates some city and parish

government functions in order to provide adequate services to the larger population residing outside

city limits in addition to the City’s residents.

While the area has experienced many periods of expansion, the City of Baton Rouge and East Baton

Rouge Parish have recently grown larger as people displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina

create new lives in the area. Consequently, all divisions of the government are providing services to

more residents. One organization affected by the increasing population is the 9-1-1 dispatch call center

that serves the City of Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Department, the City of Baton Rouge Police Department

and two nearby municipalities.

Customer overview

The City of Baton Rouge is the Louisiana

State Capital and home to Louisiana State

University. The City of Baton Rouge includes

a population of 230,000 in the city limits

as well as more than 412,000 residents

in East Baton Rouge Parish. brgov.com

CHALLeNGe

The city needed to implement a technology

infrastructure for its Computer Aided Dispatch

9-1-1 public safety system that would reliably

deliver high availability and speed.

soLutioN

The City of Baton Rouge chose a complete

solution from Dell™ including Dell server and

storage hardware, load balancing technology,

backup and data recovery solutions and Dell

Implementation Services.

BeNeFit

Dispatchers can respond more quickly

to emergency situations and the IT

team has an efficient, cost-effective

and easy-to-manage solution.

City of Baton rouge state and Local Government

BACKUP/RECOvERy/ARCHIvING n PROFESSIONAL DEvELOPMENT n CONSOLIDATION n DATABASE n MANAGEMENT/UTILITIES n MESSAGING n vIRTUALIZATION n

out-of-date dispatch technology loses ground

The City’s out-of-date Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) 9-1-1 technology

was straining under the increased traffic, especially during periods of high

volume, and frustrating dispatch workers. “The nature of service provided

in this environment is extremely critical,” Don Evans, Information Systems

director for the City of Baton Rouge says. “We knew that updating our

system had to be done, and that the project would be incredibly complex.”

The dispatchers needed faster CAD technology to access important

information quickly so that they could provide accurate and timely response

to emergency situations. Additionally, the City required a disaster recovery

solution that would ensure data is protected. They also needed to replicate

files between two sites as well as establish a more efficient way to store

valuable files. And this technology had to be easy for the small IT staff

to operate and manage. “Our entire 9-1-1 infrastructure needed to be

overhauled, and because we are dealing with people’s lives there was no

room for error,” Don explains. “We had never done this before so we were

looking for a turnkey solution.”

Dell responds with a complete solution

The City of Baton Rouge has long been a Dell™ customer. “We have been

happy with Dell’s support and have had no problems,” Don says. So after

reviewing proposals from several vendors, Don and his team decided to turn

to Dell for help with updating their 9-1-1 CAD infrastructure. Dell stepped in

with a comprehensive solution that provided not only hardware, but software,

operating systems, design expertise and Dell Implementation Services.

Dell understood that high availability and reliability were crucial factors

for the City of Baton Rouge’s solution. To address this, Dell implemented

four PowerEdge™ servers running on the RedHat® Linux® operating system

clustered with the RedHat Linux Clustering application for redundancy.

The servers power Oracle® 10g Database, Oracle RAC and Oracle 10g

Application Server software that helps the IT team manage large volumes

of data. Plus, an F5 Big IP Load Balancer optimizes server performance by

efficiently routing data traffic.

The infrastructure is also designed to maximize data storage

protection and support data replication between two data center sites.

Two Dell/EMC® SANs provide reliable data storage capabilities while

the Dell Mirrorview application automatically replicates data. Plus, Dell

built replication functionality into the operating system level to ensure

comprehensive data duplication. The solution also consists of veritas®

Netbackup and a Dell Powervault™ ML Tape Library to provide further data

protection and reliability.

Our entire 9-1-1 infrastructure needed to be overhauled, and because we are dealing with people’s lives there was no room for error. We had never done this before so we were looking for a turnkey solution.”

— Don evans , Information Systems Director City of Baton Rouge

PLACE IM-AGE HERE

January 2007

Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography, photography or omissions. Dell, PowerEdge, Powervault and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. EMC is a registered trademark of EMC Corporation. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. vERITAS is a registered trademark of vERITAS Software Corporation. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. © 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.

CAD speed and reliability mean increased safety for City of

Baton rouge residents

The Dell solution has helped the City of Baton Rouge provide a safer

community for its residents. The updated CAD 9-1-1 infrastructure results in

faster response times and more accurate aid for people requiring assistance.

“Our dispatchers love it,” Don shares. “The Dell system is lightning fast.”

In addition to helping dispatchers provide better service, the Dell™

infrastructure is easy for the IT team to operate and manage. “Our old system

was made up of flat files that took hours to rebuild,” Don explains. “Now we

can restructure files in just a few minutes.” The Dell solution is also cost-

effective so Don and his team are able to make the most of their budget.

But the biggest advantage of the new solution is the multiple layers of

redundancy. “We know that our data is protected if we are ever faced with

a disaster in one of our buildings,” states Don. And that translates to one

more way that the City of Baton Rouge mitigates the effects of devastating

emergency situations for its residents.

Our dispatchers love it. The Dell system is lightning fast.”

— Don evans , Information Systems Director City of Baton Rouge

How it works

HArDwAre• 9 PowerEdge™ 6850 Servers• Dell ML6020 Tape Library• 2 Dell/EMC® SANs• F5 Big IP Load Balancers

soFtwAre• Mirrorview• Oracle® 10g Database• Oracle RAC• Oracle 10g Application Server• veritas® NetBackup• Red Hat® Linux Clustering

operAtiNG system• Red Hat Linux

serviCes• Dell Implementation Services