IMPORTANT Message From President/CEO David L. Piccoli, II

The SMART Solution Cloud Migration Initiative [What You Need to Know]

As we welcome in the new year, SMART's Cloud continues to evolve in new exciting ways. This past year marked several major milestones for SMART which couldn't have been achieved without your valuable input and feedback. Our goal has always been, and will always be, to serve as a trusted partner delivering a complete clinic management software solution.

We have invested tremendous time, money, and resources into SMART's infrastructure allowing us to leverage the latest technologies. This ensures that SMART can provide your organization with a product that will meet your current and future needs.

SMART's Cloud is the foundation of that effort. It allows us to deliver services which were impossible in a traditional on-premises solution. Moreover, it increases reliability, security, and accessibility. 

As with any transition to a more modern technology, it takes time, resilience, and determination. I am proud to say we have successfully migrated to the cloud and have accomplished a major milestone in transitioning to a new database platform, Aurora MySQL. 

We appreciate the commitment of the nearly 125 partner sites that we have welcomed to SMART's Cloud since 2016 and we are continually streamlining the process for future migrations. 

Migrating to SMART's Cloud

Evolving from an on-premises to a cloud-based solution was initially considered a bold move for SMART. Yet, we reached the tipping point with over 63% of SMART instances currently on the cloud and growing. This shift ensures that you stay current with the latest industry innovations as well as SMART functionality.

Advantages

1. Here are a few of our cloud's advantages over most on-premises solutions: 
2. HIPAA compliant storage powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS)
3. Centralized user management
4. Malware protection with an isolated Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
5. Virtually immediate emergency preparedness and disaster recovery
6. Three-stage data backup with daily snapshots for a full year
7. Fully encrypted cloud servers and communications channels
8. Cloud-enhanced audit logging and data integrity controls

Download Cloud Benefits Paper

While the benefits of running SMART using AWS (Amazon Web Services) are evident and highly motivating, we must also introduce some timelines for the “end-of-life” of our on-premises product. SMART remains committed to supporting our legacy product, but it is important to understand that new features and advancements moving forward will only be available in our cloud-based solution.

SMART's Development, Product, and QA Teams are hitting stride with predictable, successful releases while SMART partners are experiencing greater functionality, increased speed, stability improvements, and performance enhancements. In fact there have been over 400 improvements and fixes released since version 4.3.3.0.

We already have several partners scheduled to migrate to the cloud and/or transition to our Aurora MySQL platform in the coming months. I encourage those of you that are not scheduled to contact your Partner Success Manager about migrating and/or transitioning. (Email [e-mail])

“End-of-Life” Means a New Beginning

SMART's commitment is to provide superior support and service to every partner. If you’re an on-premises partner, we want you to know the exact level of support and services that will be available to you moving forward.

Partners Using XE7 4.1.9.5.5.1 Through V4.3.3.3 - Short-Term Support (STS):

With the strategic move away from Interbase, SMART will not provide any updates for these versions after December 31, 2019. Before December 31, 2019 we will only perform changes for critical regulatory requirements.

On-premises Partners Using XE V4.1.9.5.5 or Older:

To focus our attention on the Cloud platform, no new work of any kind will be performed on these versions in the future. But, partners using these versions will continue to receive basic support.

In closing, The SMART Solution Cloud Migration Initiative allows us to provide you robust products and services on the most cutting-edge platform. While we will certainly never leave anyone behind, we encourage you to take advantage of this transition as soon as possible. Join us in this new beginning for SMART and all its partners! Ask about migrating (email [e-mail]).

Very Best Regards,

David L. Piccoli, II
President / CEO
SMART Management, Inc.