District News
District's long-used VAXservers finally taken off line as migration of data is completed
After more than 20 years of service to Seattle Public Schools, the District's VAXservers on Sept. 15 were dismantled, hauled away and trucked to a Midwest recycling company. About three months ago, the Department of Technology completed the migration of District data onto faster, more modern servers. All data from VAXservers were destroyed after the transfer.
Simply known as VAX, the servers had once been a workhorse for the Seattle Public Schools, handling almost all of the District's data regarding student information, student assignment, transportation, and immunization.
VAX was a family of minicomputers developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the mid 1970s. By 2005 all manufacturing of VAX computers had ended, but old systems remain in widespread use.
Far left photo: Chris Eastman, a senior systems engineer, pulls out the wiring connected to one of the VAXservers.
Middle photo: From left: John Marty, co-owner of Global IT in Minnesota; Jim Young, SPS lead systems engineer; and April Johnson, SPS lead network systems engineer; pull out a VAXserver onto a rollaway cart.
Far right photo: Global IT owners John Marty and his brother, Paul Marty, load one of the VAXservers into a truck. They will drive almost 24 hours to their company in Minnesota where it will be recycled.
Photos by Robert Teodosio/Seattle Public Schools