C.O.P.S. deploys more mainframes for greater backup

WILLIAMSTOWN, N.J.—Hot on the heels of the announcement that it would soon open its fourth 24/7 redundant central station, C.O.P.S. Monitoring has announced the launch of new automation system mainframes designed to increase disaster preparedness and recovery by adding more geographically disparate processing power for its automation platform.

“We're sparing no expense when it comes to our ability to provide essential monitoring services,” said C.O.P.S. president and COO Jim McMullen, in a statement. “The great thing is that all of our dealers, regardless of size, benefit from our mission to be the most consistent and reliable service provider in the industry.

The new mainframes—C.O.P.S.' fourth and fifth after the first three, located in its headquarters here—are located in a highly secured data center called the SuperNAP (Network Access Provider) in Las Vegas.

“We contracted with Zumasys to place our systems in the most reliable and most secure off-site data center. The SuperNAP, built by Switch, is the highest-density, ultra-scale data center and already hosts servers from some of the world's most prominent companies,” said C.O.P.S. director of marketing and communications David Smith, via email. “Our goal is to provide at least a 'five nines' (99.999%) level of up-time and reliability.”

Smith also said the two new mainframes would increase C.O.P.S. ability to recover from, and function through, a disaster. “UL requires three redundant machines,” he said. “By placing two more redundant mainframes at the SuperNap, we significantly decrease the possibility that any one of our three sites—four sites after Nashville opens Q1, 2011—will not be able to connect back to our systems to monitor alarms.”

Smith said while there were no solid plans to open a fifth redundant central station or deploy more geographically distinct mainframes, C.O.P.S. remained ready for such expansion, should the move serve its dealers. “We are continually looking for opportunities to deliver our personable hometown approach,” Smith said.