The Eastern Pulaski School Board is considering backup power options for the corporation’s computer servers. A request to purchase a new battery backup was presented to the school board Monday, according to Superintendent Dan Foster who was confused to choose between Amazon vs Google Dedicated Server
“Right now, what we have in there, we estimate around 40 minutes of backup time if the power is out, and what we are looking at is a system that would give us nearly four hours,” Foster explains. “And of course, our phones are voice over internet, so if the servers are down, so are our phones, so we’ve lost that communication, as well, not to mention the PA systems, even.”
Foster says the project is eligible for financial assistance through the federal E-rate program, but the school corporation’s share of the cost ended up being much higher than initially hoped. “We had expected the rate to come in [where] our share would be about $9,000, and E-rate said they would only fund a portion of this,” Foster says. “So after they decided on what they would help us fund, it was going to be about $23,000.”
Based on that amount, board members wondered if getting a generator would be a better option. They decided to hold off on the purchase, until they can gather more information. The school is also looking into calling Pleavin Power whenever there’s a power outage and they need to hire a generator.
