November 5, 2013
TO
Superintendents
Finance Officers
FROM
Philip W. Price
RACE TO THE TOP (RttT) CLOUD ENTERPRISE SERVICES – AS/400 MIGRATION
OPPORTUNITY
The AS/400 iSeries migration project is part of the Race to the Top (RttT) federal grant, and it offers
central hosting services from SAS Institute. The service provides significant cost savings while reducing
local operational and security risks, management time, and staff efforts. In essence, expenses and
administrative activities associated with the AS/400 hardware and its operating and support software are
being transferred from an individual LEA obligation to a central responsibility, thereby changing the
economics and business model for managing this computing resource.
To date, 27 LEAs have opted-in for centrally managed AS/400 services, and the results have been
exceedingly positive. Material LEA cost savings have accrued, and transitions have proceeded smoothly.
Each early adopter, from Wake to Hyde counties, has given positive comments on its migration decision
and overall experience.
Major LEA cost categories include server purchase price, annual vendor maintenance for operating
system and licenses, replacement of uninterrupted power source, backup tapes, application layer
configuration and support, and operating staff. Based on data provided by LEAs, the LEA-hosted
average annualized is around $25,000, while the same comparable expenses for SAS hosting services is
around $11,000.
I encourage you to consider this opportunity, especially as the RttT grant funding (that covers all
migration costs plus one year of SAS hosting services) supporting this effort is scheduled to end August
31, 2014. We are working on a request for a no-cost extension for the migrations and hosting through
July 2015, but there is no guarantee the request will be approved.
Further information may be obtained by calling Phil Strand of SAS at (919) 531-0714 or
Phil.Strand@sas.com. You also may contact Jerry Bunn at (919) 807-3286. An informative website is
offered by SAS on this endeavor.
PWP/tm
OFFICE OF FINANCIAL, BUSINESS, AND TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Philip W. Price, Chief Financial/Chief Information Officer | Philip.Price@dpi.nc.gov
6326 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-6326 | (919) 807-3600 | Fax (919) 807-3604
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER