The Charles M. Schulz Museum
The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center is devoted to presenting the life and works of the world-famous creator of Peanuts. The Museum greets many thousands of visitors per year who come to see Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus and all the other beloved Peanuts characters. Additionally, the Museum is in the process of making available to visiting scholars an extensive archive of original artwork that will be electronically cataloged and fully searchable.
As a non-profit organization, the Schulz Museum needs to deliver world-class quality at a budget price. It needs an infrastructure that can meet current and future requirements, that can scale as visitor numbers increase annually, and that can also accommodate the needs of visiting academics. It also needs an IT infrastructure that can meet the needs of the three separate business units clustered on the campus: the Snoopy Gift Shop, the Redwood Ice Arena, and of course the Charles M. Schulz Museum itself.
The Schulz Museum turned to PlanIT Solutions to achieve its vision.
The main information technology systems the Museum needed to implement quickly were all focused on aspects of managing visitor flow such as point-of-sale, bookings, and core telecommunications.
PlanIT Solutions first carried out all the communications cabling in the new Museum building. The first step was to propose an alternative wiring plan to that proposed by the architect - a plan that would save money and deliver a superior infrastructure by routing cables most efficiently and cost-effectively throughout the fabric of the building to meet present and planned future needs. Then PlanIT Solutions showed them how to reduce overall telecommunications costs by creating a campus infrastructure in which all the business units can share the robust telecommunications and computing infrastructure being put in place at the Museum. This was achieved using a Cisco Systems wireless network, which, in addition to reducing communications costs, also permits the Schulz campus to centralize data back-up in one location. Finally, the wireless network also connects the Museum's computers with the archive warehouse to support on-line cataloging and retrieval.
PlanIT Solutions also implemented the Museum's business systems on a Compaq server running Windows 2000 with a RAID storage system and 15 Dell workstations for use by the various technical, research and administrative personnel employed by the Museum. PlanIT Solutions also implemented its own Tutela Internet Gateway product, which runs on Linux and is an affordable firewall, e-mail server, spam filter and proxy server all in one.
The Museum was so delighted with these outcomes that it entered into a long-term service contract with PlanIT Solutions for maintenance of its computing and telecommunications infrastructure.
Accordingly, on a predetermined schedule an experienced PlanIT Solutions technician provides proactive remote service management, including:
- Check for Operating System updates (service packs, patches, security updates) and apply as appropriate
- Check new virus definitions for servers and desktop machines
- Check status of all backups and take action to remedy any problems
- Examine event logs to detect unwanted occurrences of memory leaks, log-in problems, etc.
- Inspect and update security settings as appropriate
- Check drive and disc space
- Check memory usage, CPU usage and notify customer if these are approaching non-optimal levels
- Test all network connections
PlanIT Solutions was also asked to install the Museum's complete range of sophisticated audio-visual equipment and to maintain its telephone system. This last item became especially crucial to the Museum when the arrangement with the original telephone contractor fell through. PlanIT Solutions was able to step in and provide rapid and seamless support.
Leonard Vasquez, Director of Facilities at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, says, "We're extremely happy about our relationship with PlanIT Solutions. All the work they've done for us has been performed above expectations. If there's ever any kind of problem, they fix it fast. And they've shown us how to save a lot of money without compromising on quality and effectiveness."
Now that the core systems are in place and functioning as required, the Museum is taking advantage of another one of PlanIT Solutions' capabilities: CIO-quality strategic advice. Jim Lewis, President of PlanIT Solutions, is working closely with Museum personnel to develop a plan for innovative audio-visual displays that will boost attendance, and enhance visitor satisfaction while providing important demographic information that will help in the development of future exhibits. The Museum is confident that PlanIT Solutions will once again make recommendations that are both cost-effective and high-quality, and will stand behind its work with an iron-clad guarantee.
While Charlie Brown may never kick the football Lucy holds for him each Fall, and while Linus may never see the Great Pumpkin emerge on Halloween, the Schulz Museum knows that PlanIT Solutions will always come through to deliver the solutions and service it has come to depend on, so that thousands of visitors each year can enjoy the heartwarming experience of seeing their favorite characters in the place dedicated to the lasting legacy of Charles M. Schulz.