Robert Rosen, CIO, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; past president, SHARE, the IBM user group
Q: What is the most significant server upgrade you've directed?
A: The most difficult (and most significant I'd directed at the time) was a major upgrade from a VAX 11/780 to a VAX 8700. We had to keep the 780 running until we could be in full production on the 8700. The problem was the lab bay didn't have the power needed, didn't have the space to properly house the two machines, and didn't have the cooling capacity. We solved the power problem first, and then came up with a plan to house both machines in the space by overlapping service clearances, cheating on access space, and generally making life very difficult for the DEC technicians who had to do the installation. But we got it all in. And by judicious use of enormous fans, we managed to keep things relatively cool. The customers never lost a second of processing time-although we lost a lot of sleep. The final challenge came when it was time to move the old equipment out. Some of the machines had to be disassembled to fit through the door. But in the end, we had a hot new system and the customers were happy.
