The USIP Upgrades to Apple Xserve

Despite the overwhelming desirability of peace, participants in disputes often lack a framework for achieving peaceful resolutions to conflicts. That’s where the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) comes in. Based in Washington, DC, the USIP promotes peaceful resolutions to international conflicts — and uses the latest technology to deliver its message to hotspots all over the world.

As early as 1994, the USIP was using the Internet to share information and to bring stakeholders in conflicts together. Through the years, the agency’s use of technology has expanded steadily. For instance, the USIP’s Virtual Diplomacy Initiative recently hosted an online town hall with Gyude Bryant, chairman of the National Transitional Government of Liberia. During the town hall, he discussed ways in which the Liberian diaspora around the world could support peace efforts in its homeland. Closer to home, the USIP’s Education Program sponsors a peace essay contest for high school students that draws contestants from every state, using the Internet to collect scores from judges and to streamline the selection of winners.

When it comes to resolving conflict and promoting peace, unimpeded communication is essential. That’s why the USIP’s IT team focuses its efforts on ensuring that the USIP can keep dialogues and ideas flowing. “We’re more than a think tank,” explains Nick Arleth, the USIP’s information services manager. “We have people on the ground in Iraq, and we need to stay connected with them. Our many programs use technology in an incredible number of ways, such as to make our library of resources available and to encourage dialogue. We use Apple Xserve servers to get our message where it needs to be and to enable instantaneous communication by email, webcasts and face to face via our website.”

Old Hardware Delivers Message Too Slowly

Since the USIP’s founding in 1984, it has used Apple technology. As the organization expanded its programs, it felt that upgrading to the Xserve would help to maximize its use of technology and to keep pace with the organizational growth. For instance, when USIP began conducting live webcasts and making past seminars available through its website, it overtaxed USIP’s older hardware and slowed its performance.

Spending 30 Percent Less on Software

As a long-time user of Apple technology, the USIP decided to replace its 18 aging servers with seven new Xserve systems. “We’ve used Apple technology from the very beginning,” says Arleth. “We liked the fact that the Xserve comes preconfigured with Apache, SQL Server and PHP. Buying servers that were basically ready to go out of the box saved us several hours per server during implementation.”

The USIP does much of its own development in-house, which is one of the main reasons why the organization favors Apple technology. Arleth explains: “That Apple uses an open architecture and industry standards is a definite benefit to us in terms of costs. Often off-the-shelf software doesn’t meet our needs, so we use and customize open source applications. If we didn’t use open technology, we would be spending about 30 percent more each year on software and software development.”