-Team Mythics

Virginia Beach, VA – April,23rd, 2013/PRnewswire/

"We are excited to support the State of South Carolina by helping them realize the most from their Oracle IT investments to conduct state business,” said Doug Altamura, Vice President of State & Local Government Sales at Mythics. "This contract award is an acknowledgement of our expertise working with Oracle products and technologies to solve complex and mission critical business challenges with our public sector customers.”

About Mythics
Mythics is an award winning Oracle systems integrator, consulting firm and elite Oracle platinum resale partner (GSA#: GS-35F-0153M) who provides an unmatched Oracle solution set of products and services, including Oracle licensing and support, Oracle Sun hardware, engineered systems and appliances, Oracle training, consulting and managed services.  Mythics provides complete technology solutions for the Federal Government, State and Local Governments, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors and is the trusted partner to organizations worldwide.  For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com

Contact Information
Stacey Tenney
Mythics, Inc.
+1.571.282.4532
stenney@mythics.com

Mythics Consulting will work with the Elizabeth Arden team to provide OBIEE development, system maintenance and enhancement of the 11g platform. During this migration, Mythics Consulting will work with Elizabeth Arden’s Global user network to allow continued dashboard support up to the expected completion date of April 2013.

“Mythics Consulting was able to address the project needs and began putting the right team in place early on,” states Jim Barlow, Director of Global Business Intelligence. “As a result, Elizabeth Arden is on track to meet the project timelines and business objectives.”

“We are excited to work with Elizabeth Arden in aligning Oracle solutions to improve their Business Intelligence environment,” said Rich Walters, President of Mythics Consulting. “Mythics Consulting is committed to combining our expertise with Oracle’s Business Intelligence applications and providing our customers with a broad range of capabilities across a multitude of IT systems.”

About Mythics Consulting
Mythics Consulting is an award winning Systems Integrator and Oracle Platinum Specialized Consulting partner. Mythics Consulting provides end-to-end Oracle solutions with specialties in Advanced Analytics & Business Intelligence; Applications; Content Management; Database Services and Engineered Systems. Mythics Consulting provides an unrivaled level of expertise and experience, with hundreds of successful implementations solving complex business challenges worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com/consulting.

About Mythics
Mythics is an award winning Oracle systems integrator, consulting firm and elite Oracle platinum resale partner (GSA#: GS-35F-0153M), who provides an unmatched Oracle solution set of products and services, including Oracle licensing and support, Oracle Sun hardware, engineered systems and appliances, Oracle training, consulting and managed services. Mythics provides technology solutions within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Civilian Agencies, Homeland Security, Intelligence Agencies, State and Local Governments, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors and is the trusted partner to thousands of organizations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com.

About Elizabeth Arden
Elizabeth Arden is a global prestige beauty products company with an extensive portfolio of prestige beauty brands sold in over 100 countries. The company's brand portfolio includes Elizabeth Arden skincare, color and fragrance products, the celebrity fragrance brands of Britney Spears, Elizabeth Taylor, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, and Usher; the designer fragrance brands of Juicy Couture, Alfred Sung, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Geoffrey Beene, Halston, Bob Mackie, Ed Hardy, John Varvatos, Kate Spade, Lucky Brand, True Religion and Rocawear; and the lifestyle fragrance brands Curve, Giorgio Beverly Hills, and PS Fine Cologne.

Contact
Kylie Morris
Mythics
703.635.2607
kmorris@mythics.com

The agreement awarded in November requires Mythics Consulting to work with Tensar to improve their Enterprise Architecture and Oracle e-Business Suite applications environment. Mythics Consulting will streamline Tensar’s operations by: Implementing the Oracle Mobile Supply Chain Application (MSCA) & Oracle Warehouse Management System (WMS) modules, thorough business process review & analysis, and the design & delivery of a bar-code scanning inventory tracking solution.

“We are excited to work with Tensar in aligning Oracle solutions to improve their applications environment,” stated Rich Walters, President of Mythics Consulting. “Mythics Consulting is committed to combining our expertise in the Oracle product stack and providing the customer with a broad range of capabilities across a multitude of IT systems.”

About Mythics Consulting
Mythics Consulting is an award winning Systems Integrator and Oracle Platinum Specialized Consulting partner. Mythics Consulting provides end-to-end Oracle solutions with specialties in Advanced Analytics & Business Intelligence; Applications; Content Management; Database Services and Engineered Systems. Mythics Consulting provides an unrivaled level of expertise and experience, with hundreds of successful implementations solving complex business challenges worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com/consulting.

About Mythics
Mythics is an award winning Oracle systems integrator, consulting firm and elite Oracle platinum resale partner (GSA#: GS-35F-0153M), who provides an unmatched Oracle solution set of products and services, including Oracle licensing and support, Oracle Sun hardware, engineered systems and appliances, Oracle training, consulting and managed services. Mythics provides technology solutions within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Civilian Agencies, Homeland Security, Intelligence Agencies, State and Local Governments, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors and is the trusted partner to thousands of organizations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com.

About Tensar International Corporation
Headquartered in Atlanta, Tensar International is a full-service provider of specialty products and engineering services that offer innovative and cost-effective alternatives to traditional construction methods. Tensar solutions are based on advanced soil reinforcement technologies and incorporate proprietary, engineered applications for commercial, industrial, municipal, residential and transportation infrastructure site development. The company specializes in solutions for common site development challenges, including grade changes requiring retaining walls and poor soil conditions affecting the cost of roadways, parking lots and building structures. Patented, polymeric Tensar® Geogrids are the primary component of the company’s systems, offering reliable strength and durability. Contracted services include site evaluation, conceptual engineering, design, value engineering and installation advice. For more information, visit http://www.tensarcorp.com.

Contact
Kylie Morris
Mythics, Inc.
703.635.2607
kmorris@mythics.com

Virginia Beach VA – January 15, 2013 /PRnewswire/  - Mythics, an award winning Platinum level member of Oracle® PartnerNetwork (OPN), Oracle Product GSA Schedule Holder (GS-35F-0153M) and Oracle PartnerNetwork Specialized Consulting Partner, today announced it has achieved OPN Specialization for the Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud engineered system.  Through the OPN Specialization process, Mythics has demonstrated experience, expertise and success in selling, deploying and managing Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud in mission critical public sector and commercial environments.

Mythics has been a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork since 2000, providing licensing, Oracle hardware, training, and premier consulting services for products across the Oracle portfolio.  Mythics provides technology solutions within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Civilian Agencies, Homeland Security, Intelligence Agencies, State and Local Governments, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors and is a trusted partner to thousands of organizations worldwide. 

To achieve OPN Specialized status, Oracle partners are required to meet a stringent set of requirements that are based on the needs and priorities of the customer and partner community. By achieving a Specialized distinction, Mythics has been recognized by Oracle for its expertise in delivering services specifically around Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud through competency development, business results and proven success.

“Our team is proud to be recognized for our Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud capabilities with this Specialization achievement,” said Sloan Frey, Vice President, Integrated Solutions Division of Mythics.  “Our customers and partners demand the highest quality solution architecture and systems integration services to help them solve complex business and mission challenges worldwide using Oracle’s Engineered Systems.  This Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud Specialization is a critical piece to our industry leading specialization portfolio, validating our experience and expertise leveraging these Engineered Systems platforms.”

 “Mythics is a valued and recognized leader in our partner community, that appreciates the importance of Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud and Oracle’s Engineered Systems and the benefits they bring to our joint customers,” said Jim Standard, group vice president, Global Channel Sales, Oracle.“  We congratulate them on another specialization achievement and look forward to delivering significant value with them to our joint public sector and commercial customers worldwide.”

“Our customers have received very noticeable performance, reliability, and scalability benefits by leveraging Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud.  The platform provides cost effective, integrated computer, storage, and network capabilities - supporting virtually any enterprise application workload.  For those looking for a shared service model within their enterprise, or a solution to resource consolidation, Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud is the answer,” said Brent Seaman, Vice President, Mythics Consulting.

About Mythics
Mythics is an award winning Oracle systems integrator, consulting firm and elite Oracle platinum resale partner (GSA#: GS-35F-0153M), who provides an unmatched Oracle solution set of products and services, including Oracle licensing and support, Oracle Sun hardware, engineered systems and appliances, Oracle training, consulting and managed services.  Mythics provides technology solutions within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Civilian Agencies, Homeland Security, Intelligence Agencies, State and Local Governments, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors and is the trusted partner to thousands of organizations worldwide.  For more information on Mythics and Oracle Exalogic visit http://www.mythics.com/exalogic or for general information visit http://www.mythics.com

About Oracle PartnerNetwork
Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized is the latest version of Oracle's partner program that provides partners with tools to better develop, sell and implement Oracle solutions. OPN Specialized offers resources to train and support specialized knowledge of Oracle products and solutions and has evolved to recognize Oracle's growing product portfolio, partner base and business opportunity. Key to the latest enhancements to OPN is the ability for partners to differentiate through Specializations. Specializations are achieved through competency development, business results, expertise and proven success. To find out more visit http://www.oracle.com/partners

Trademarks
Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Contact Information
Stacey Tenney
Mythics, Inc.
+1.703.675.7617
stenney@mythics.com

"We are proud to support the State of North Carolina execute on its mission to realize the most from their IT investments to conduct state business,” said Doug Altamura, Vice President of State & Local Government Sales at Mythics. "This contract award is an acknowledgement of our expertise working with Oracle products and technologies to solve complex and mission critical business challenges with our public sector customers.”

North Carolina’s Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) is the leading provider of IT services to state agencies, local governments, and educational institutions across North Carolina.  These services include web hosting, network and video services, telecommunications, and enterprise services and applications.  ITS under leadership from the North Carolina Chief Information Officer has statewide IT responsibilities including technical architecture, procurement, project management and security.  ITS works with state agencies to provide cost justified technology tools and solutions that enable the delivery of services to citizens, business and government.

About Mythics
Mythics is an award winning Oracle systems integrator, consulting firm and elite Oracle platinum resale partner who provides an unmatched Oracle solution set of products and services, including Oracle licensing and support, Oracle Sun hardware, engineered systems and appliances, Oracle training, consulting and managed services.  Mythics provides complete technology solutions for the Federal Government, State and Local Governments, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors and is the trusted partner to organizations worldwide.  For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com.

Contact Information
Stacey Tenney
Mythics, Inc.
+1.571.282.4532
stenney@mythics.com

"We are honored and proud to support the City of Charlotte during these difficult economic times, providing cost effective information technology solutions that enable Charlotte to better serve the public,” said Doug Altamura, Vice President of State & Local Government Sales at Mythics. "This contract award is an acknowledgement of our leadership in the public sector working with Oracle products and technologies to solve complex and mission critical business challenges.”

CCPA contracts are competitively solicited by the City of Charlotte on behalf of itself and all local governments, school districts, and higher education institutions in the United States of America, and other government agencies and nonprofit organizations 

About Mythics
Mythics is an award winning Oracle PartnerNetwork Platinum level member, Oracle Value Added Reseller (VAR) and Oracle Specialized Consulting Partner provides an unmatched Oracle solution set of products and services, including Oracle licensing and support, Oracle Sun hardware, engineered systems and appliances, Oracle training, consulting and managed services.  Mythics provides technology solutions for the Federal Government, State and Local Governments, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors and is the trusted partner to organizations worldwide.  For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com

About Mythics Consulting
Mythics Consulting is an award winning Oracle Platinum Specialized Consulting partner.  Mythics Consulting provides an unmatched Oracle solution set of services and delivers technology-based solutions for the Federal Government, State & Local Governments, Commercial, Higher Education and Healthcare sectors.  Mythics Consulting remains a trusted partner to organizations worldwide.  For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com/consulting
.  

Contact Information
Stacey Tenney
Mythics, Inc.
+1.571.282.4532
stenney@mythics.com

APC2 is a $249M indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract (IDIQ) available to all U.S. federal agencies and military services for the acquisition of enterprise private cloud computing services. The new initiative will allow the military to consolidate its existing data centers by establishing a secure, cost-effective private cloud. Mythics will combine its expertise in the Oracle product stack with HP leadership in data center outsourcing to provide customers with a broad range of capabilities across a multitude of IT domains.

“We are thrilled to be a part of the HP team and look forward to aligning Oracle solutions to our federal customer’s enterprise cloud computing needs,” states Richard Walters, President of Mythics Consulting. “Utilizing both HP and Mythics’ past technical successes, Army clients are provided with an easy to use contract vehicle which allows them to access the unique understanding both companies have of the Army’s mission with cloud computing services.”

The HP team will consist of world-class partners, including 10 small businesses and Alabama A&M University, to provide a wide range of critical services. Available for both fixed and deployed locations, these services include network connectivity, information assurance, certification and accreditation support, application migration, private cloud operations and maintenance, supply chain risk management, service support and service delivery.

More information about the HP team on APC2 can be found at www.hp.com/enterprise/gov/apc2.

About Mythics Consulting
Mythics Consulting is an award winning Oracle Platinum Specialized Consulting partner.  Mythics Consulting provides an unmatched Oracle solution set of services and delivers technology-based solutions for the Federal Government, State & Local Governments, Commercial, Higher Education and Healthcare sectors.  Mythics Consulting remains a trusted partner to organizations worldwide.  For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com/consulting

About Mythics, Inc.
Mythics is an elite Oracle Platinum Partner value-added resale (VAR) product and training partner, Oracle Exadata Specialized partner and Oracle GSA Schedule Holder (GS-35F-0153M). Mythics provides unmatched Oracle solutions, including Oracle software, support and hardware acquisition, financing, training, consulting and managed services. Mythics delivers technology solutions for the Federal Government, State & Local Governments, Commercial, Higher Education and Healthcare sectors. For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com.

Contact Information
Kylie Morris
703.635.2607
kmorris@mythics.com
 

Case in point: U.S. Customs and Border Protection developed an IT road map that significantly downplays technology diversity. “The idea of everyone having their own servers, infrastructures and unique configurations — that is just unsustainable from a budget perspective,” said Wolf Tombe, CBP’s chief technology officer.

The agency has turned to an infrastructure approach that uses quick-to-deploy hardware appliances based on open industry standards. He acknowledged that there’s a trade-off to this approach, in that “you sacrifice the ability to tailor your infrastructure on a per-case basis,” but also said it might be the best strategy for the times. “I would argue the cost savings will radically outweigh those sacrifices,” he said.

Why it matters

CBP’s strategy falls within a larger trend known as converged infrastructure, which uses standard technologies in pretested combinations to reduce the time and effort IT staffers devote to implementing interrelated server, storage, database and virtualization products.

“If done right, converged infrastructures can lead to quicker deployment of applications, less performance tuning, and savings on costs for operations and administration,” said George Weiss, a vice president and analyst at Gartner.

However, agencies must carefully weigh the trade-offs. In addition to less design flexibility, Weiss said, there are potentially higher upfront costs and a greater risk of vendor lock-in compared to traditional data center resources.

CBP isn’t the only agency looking closely at the converged infrastructure option. With more than 250 data centers nationwide, the Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating whether adopting standardized, “off-the-shelf” technologies — an inherent characteristic of this approach — can help the agency meet its performance demands while lowering its overall IT costs, said Christopher Shorter, executive director of enterprise operations at VA.

For the past three months, Shorter’s team has been running a pilot project to gather cost and performance data about one brand of database appliances. “If the industry can raise the maturity level of these types of solutions, they could become a true force multiplier,” he said. For example, with the appliances VA is evaluating, performance monitoring and error reporting can be done via a central interface, which reduces the need to devote staff resources to those tasks, he said.

CBP and VA are part of a larger industry trend, according to the Wikibon Project, an online community that promotes the open sharing of advisory knowledge. In a blog post in August, David Vellante, a co-founder and principal contributor to Wikibon, predicted that by 2017, converged solutions could provide the underpinnings of almost two-thirds of the infrastructure that supports enterprise applications.

Such predictions help explain why a number of industry heavyweights are jumping on board. The list includes Cisco Systems, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, NetApp, Oracle and VMware.

The fundamentals

Converged infrastructures offer IT managers two main options: preconfigured appliances with computing, networking, storage and virtualization resources that support databases and applications, or a reference architecture that provides a blueprint for IT departments to combine data center components that have been shown to work together efficiently.

Implementation speed can be dramatic. For example, one federal client of Mythics Consulting, a systems integrator that specializes in government projects, had a converged database appliance fully operational in less than two months, a sharp contrast to the 12-month process required to install a stand-alone database platform and migrate data to it, said David Miller, Mythics’ vice president of engineered systems.

The solution-in-a-box approach could offer some ongoing benefits as well. For example, the appliance vendor often handles support even if multiple companies contribute to the configuration. Similarly, updates to software, firmware and security patches come as a package so IT managers can centrally install everything en masse. “If you look at legacy data centers where you have 1,500 machines and each one is a little different, it’s a huge manpower burden to patch them,” Tombe said.

The other route to converged infrastructure relies on a reference architecture. It provides an overall blueprint to help an agency build its own infrastructure and leaves the actual integration and some of the component choices to the IT shop. It could create opportunities for cost savings while offering more design flexibility than the preconfigured appliance approach, industry consultants say. It also has less risk of vendor lock-in than appliance-based solutions.

For example, an agency’s in-house technical employees could choose components from a short list of options that are compatible with existing infrastructure components. In addition, reference architectures might include products from vendors the agency is already working with. “You may get some economies of scale based on your buying power with the different vendors that you have,” Burns said.

Reference architectures could also be budget-friendly in other ways. If an agency doesn’t have funds in the current fiscal year’s budget to modernize a group of servers and networks simultaneously, the reference architecture could provide a strategy for upgrading components over time in the most efficient sequence.

Finally, as with preconfigured appliances, some reference architecture collaborators provide a single point of contact for resolving configuration problems and performance glitches.

The hurdles

Despite the potential of the converged infrastructure approach, IT experts say agencies might still encounter problems. One challenge is accurately comparing the costs against more traditional approaches.

“We’re seeing cost savings for electricity — we’re not paying as much in kilowatt hours or for HVAC compared to running multiple systems,” VA’s Shorter said. But the agency is still determining whether converged systems cut man-hours for management and maintenance. Shorter said he’s keeping a close watch on those resources. “I’m very cautious about this because when virtualization first came on the scene, everyone said there would be a huge reduction in manpower requirements, and we have not seen that.”

Gartner’s Weiss advised agencies to look beyond an appliance’s price tag and ask for a cost breakdown for each component so they can compare the total to the appliance price. That will help organizations determine the premium being paid for upfront integration and decide whether the cost is justified, he said.

Agencies should factor in some additional considerations to determine the investment’s value. “For example, you may be able to shave a week off the acquisition cycle and shrink the installation time,” said Greg Schulz, a senior analyst at consulting firm StorageIO. “And over the next three years, maybe you can shave X days off normal maintenance and support times.”

However, agencies must balance the benefits of preconfigured appliances or reference architectures with the possibility of vendor lock-in when it’s time for upgrades or wholesale replacements. Tombe said he addresses that risk by only choosing solutions that adhere to open standards.

Nevertheless, complications can arise if a security-sensitive agency — the Defense Department, for example — mandates that a particular security patch be installed immediately. “I can’t afford to wait for the vendor to come out with it as part of the integrated patch update,” Burns said. “Then the question is: Will you be supported by the vendor or are you now responsible for making sure it’s fully operational across the system?”

Some agencies are looking beyond the current budget crunch to see how a converged infrastructure could fit into their IT strategies. “Our long-term plan is to move entirely to appliances,” Tombe said, because of their ability to be virtualized and combined into pools of resources. “If you look at what they are and how you can put them together, you are fairly well on the way to having a cloud.”

Next steps: 6 key considerations

When it’s time to move to a converged infrastructure, agency IT managers should keep the following considerations in mind.

1. Determine how much preintegration has actually been done in a prospective appliance solution. In other words, “is it really a single SKU item or just piece parts that I now have to assemble?” said Yogesh Khanna, vice president and chief technology officer at systems integrator CSC.
2. Pay close attention to an appliance’s software to see if it includes tools for automation and orchestration. If not, you will have to buy and integrate third-party packages, Khanna said.
3. For a reference architecture, study how it has evolved and the designers’ plans for modernizing it. “It should be a living, breathing document that’s regularly updated,” said Greg Schulz, a senior analyst at StorageIO.
4. Look beyond the IT department when making decisions about appliances and reference architectures. George Weiss, a vice president and analyst at Gartner, advises agencies to include line-of-business representatives, such as those from the finance and human resources departments, in the decision-making process.
5. Don’t become enthralled with a solution from a single vendor or consortium. Weiss said organizations should compare offerings from multiple sources to see various approaches to converged infrastructures and weigh their relative strengths and limitations.
6. Prepare for change management. “Converged architectures can be a culture shock for the operations and maintenance people and in IT shops that are used to building their infrastructure from the ground up,” said Wolf Tombe, chief technology officer at Customs and Border Protection.

by Alan Joch

"This contract award is an acknowledgement of our leadership in the public sector working with Oracle products and technologies to solve complex and mission critical business challenges,” said Doug Altamura, Vice President of State & Local Government Sales at Mythics. "We are honored and proud to support the State of Illinois during these difficult economic times, providing cost effective information technology solutions that enable the state and local government of Illinois to better serve the public”.

The contract services all public bodies in the State of Illinois, including government agencies, boards, commissions and educational institutions as well as all state and other governmental units including not-for-profit entities authorized by law to participate in the joint purchasing program.   The Illinois Oracle contract awarded to Mythics is designed to decrease costs, reduce paperwork and, ultimately, is a procurement vehicle that will result in savings for the State of Illinois, both in procurement efficiency and in the costs for Oracle technology products and services. 

About Mythics
Mythics is an award winning Oracle PartnerNetwork Platinum level member, Oracle GSA Schedule Holder (GS-35F-0153M), Oracle Value Added Reseller (VAR) and Oracle Specialized Consulting Partner providing an unmatched Oracle solution set of products and services, including Oracle licensing and support, Oracle Sun hardware, engineered systems and appliances, Oracle training, consulting and managed services.  Mythics provides technology solutions for the Federal Government, State and Local Governments, Commercial, and Healthcare sectors and is the trusted partner to organizations worldwide.  For more information, visit http://www.mythics.com.

Contact Information
Stacey Tenney
Mythics, Inc.
+1.571.282.4532
stenney@mythics.com