The IT Consulting Consortium (ITCC, www.craigs.com, 541.924.0736, HP World booth 949) has formed a partnership with IMS Recovery Services (www.cusolution.com, 541.752.5500), an alliance that will work to get more credit unions running Summit Information Systems’ software their required disaster recovery certifications. IMS and its Recovery Services arm have been serving credit unions for several years with customized modules for the Spectrum software on the HP 3000s, as well as providing ancillary support for the Summit application. Disaster recovery plans are among the more pressing needs many credit unions face, according to ITCC founder Craig Solomon. ITCC will deploy its group of HP 3000 independent consultant partners to create disaster recovery plans required by the NAFCU or NCUA organizations. The plans run in excess of 400 pages, and Solomon said he believes as many as 60 percent of the Summit sites don’t have one. “The main goal of this partnership is to expand the already popular Recovery Services offered by IMS,” Solomon said. ”Credit unions are required to pass a Federal Audit. In order to pass the audit, a disaster recovery plan is required, and the existing disaster recovery offered by IMS allows their Summit customers to meet and exceed this requirement.”

ITCC will also offer expanded services to IMS customers by giving them access to analytical services, include reports ranging from Performance and Tuning to Capacity Planning. “As a result, IMS customers will now be able to make more informed decisions regarding the most efficient use of existing equipment and the upgrading or purchase of new hardware,” Solomon said. Lower-cost alternatives to making upgrades from existing HP 3000 9x9 servers are one service ITCC plans to offer the Summit sites. In a successful alternative, credit unions might avoid software upgrade fees by making existing servers more efficient. IMS founder Devon Wilson, who created his company after careers at a credit union and at Summit, said the credit unions can get a lower-cost option for disaster recovery by using his company’s services. “We strive to avoid the one-size-fits-all mentality so prevalent in today's business world,” he said. “The monthly costs of the client’s recovery plan are formulated with the customer’s budget in mind. Furthermore, for the credit union with a plan already in place, we guarantee that our price will be at least 20 percent below that of the current monthly fee.”