State CIOs' priority: Consolidating data centers

By Wilson P. Dizard III

| August 21, 2007

They seek to to improve their service delivery, reinforce their ability to protect systems and the data they contain, reduce costs, and streamline IT functions, according to a NASCIO report.

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State information technology organizations seek to consolidate their data facilities to improve their service delivery, reinforce their ability to protect systems and the data they contain, facilitate the re-engineering of business processes, eliminate redundant capacity, reduce costs, and streamline IT functions, according to NASCIO. States responding to the survey reported that they had between one and 100 data centers. The median number of centers was 15. The survey authors said variations in how the states defined data centers caused part of the wide variation in the center counts.A high percentage of the states responding to the survey, 86 percent, said they planned to launch server virtualization projects as new technology associated with their enterprise data center consolidation projects.The respondents also favored open-source technology for use in 48 percent of their data center consolidation efforts, NASCIO found.State agencies also named storage-area networks, consolidated storage purchases, service-oriented architecture, virtual servers, and provisioning and application hosting as other new technologies they planned to deploy in the consolidation projects.NASCIO asked state IT leaders what obstacles or challenges they faced as a result of their data center consolidation projects. The most common responses were:As for the motives driving the states push to consolidate their data centers, the most important reason respondents cited was to improve disaster recovery, a factor named in 83 percent of cases. The goal of improving data replication, redundancy and fault tolerance was cited second, in 76 percent of cases, and cost savings motives came in third at 66 percent of responses. , .

State chief information officers agree that consolidating enterprise data centers is their most important task for the coming year, according to a study released Aug. 20 by the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO).

The study relied on responses from 29 states. The association reported a strong trend toward states consolidating their computing assets into raised-floor, secured, centralized data center facilities.

Many states are utilizing remote, backup data center facilities for the purpose of backup and disaster recovery and business continuity, NASCIO said.

State governments define enterprise data in different ways, the NASCIO study found. But the varying definitions did not cloud the universal nature of the consolidation trend, the association said.

The report describes the status of the survey groups consolidation programs:

Completed: 14 percent, or four out of 29.

In progress or partially complete: 38 percent, or 11 of 29.

Planning phase: 24 percent, or seven of 29.

Proposed: 17 percent, or five of 29.

No activity: 7 percent, or two of 29.

Workforce resistance to change: 90 percent.

Agencies desire to remain autonomous: 86 percent.

Problems experienced in moving localized devices away from current customer base: 48 percent.

Backlash when consolidation didn't meet specific business needs: 21 percent.

Unexpectedly high costs: 17 percent.

Seeking exemptions from state statutory and regulatory requirements: 17 percent.

Seeking exemptions from federal statutory and regulatory requirements: 17 percent.

Failure to identify and adhere to service levels: 3 percent.

Wilson P. Dizard III writes for Government Computer Newsan 1105 Government Information Group publication

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They seek to to improve their service delivery, reinforce their ability to protect systems and the data they contain, reduce costs, and streamline IT functions, according to a NASCIO report.