Southern Union Conference
Peachtree Corners, GA
Switch Global Empowers Southern Union Conference with New UPS System
"The level of service and support was above and beyond what we could have expected."
- Eder Marksi, Director of IT Services, Southern Union Conference
Organizations of all sizes depend on their infrastructure for day-to-day processes to run smoothly. Just like any building or network, such infrastructures are designed, built, secured, and supported by various systems. Perhaps the most critical of these is a reliable source of electrical power – responsible for basic lighting all the way to IT infrastructure. With so much depending on a stable supply, backup and failsafe systems are necessary measures to protect from sudden surges and interruptions, especially when storing sensitive information. So, when the Southern Union Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church needed a new Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for their southeast operations facility, they relied on Switch Global to implement the perfect system for their needs.
Safeguarding an aging system
The Southern Union Conference is the southeast organizational center for the church and serves as 1 of 8 hubs for IT services. Storing data for 280,000 of its members (12,000 of which are students), it was crucial for this facility that not only does its power system operate reliably, but also that there are safeguards in place in case of an emergency.
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Arnold Correa, Associate Director of IT Services for the Conference describes the project in saying, “After just 7 years, our existing UPS was quickly reaching end-of-life, and we needed a strong replacement.
One major issue of our existing system was that we couldn’t bypass it without taking down all the systems within the organization. We needed to make sure that our next one was user-serviceable, and manufactured by a known, reputable brand.”
Optimizing the solution with new designs
To solve this, the infrastructure experts at Switch Global were brought in to offer a solution and oversee its installation. For this unique project, the team selected a Galaxy VS-208-480V UPS by Schneider Electric to fit the comprehensive functions of the location. With a high-caliber unit chosen, the next step was to re-engineer the system to its new requirements. “Working with Switch Global was amazing – the owner of the company actually came on-site to make sure the system plan was optimized for our setup,” states Eder Marski, Director of IT Services.
"The team was very transparent and didn’t try to sugarcoat anything. They even suggested a modified solution that saved us money, and weren’t afraid to say, ‘You know what, you don’t need that - it would be a waste of money in the long run’. The level of service and support was above and beyond what we could have expected."
- Eder Marksi, Director of IT Services, Southern Union Conference
When the project was completed, Southern Union was very satisfied with the new setup. Marski continues, “Even though this is a backup power supply, Switch Global brought in a quality electrician and rerouted some the power settings to ensure quality operation. They could have easily chosen the cheapest option, but instead prioritized quality without adding anything to our costs.” With a new UPS and a better designed system, the Conference is well-situated for years to come.
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Switch Global would like to thank the Southern Union Conference for their assistance in creating this story. You can find out more information about the conference at www.southernunion.com