Comments on: Feds Commence Huge Data Center Consolidation

By: Skynet is coming « JP-Nelson.com

Skynet is coming « JP-Nelson.com — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:13:41 +0000

[...] Read more à [...]

By: redstorm_

redstorm_ — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 21:28:33 +0000

Just like the government, thinking old school. Consolidation NEVER works because too many people are involved trying to hold on to THEIR networks. Here’s a thought…do what we did…implement VMWARE and consolidate servers. We’ve removed 7 full racks of equipment, reduced the UPS load from 95% to 68%, shrunk the room to make cooling more efficient, moved the HVAC around to cool properly and allow us to raise the temps and not have to run the compressors so often, and we’re using efficient cClass HP blade chassis…..just making those changes alone helps to make this data center more efficient. There is no need to spend billions trying to do something that benefits ZERO people…the feds need to start thinking with their heads and not their back sides all the time….

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:41:40 +0000

I think military planners and terrorists around the world think this is an excellent idea. Why waste effort having to take out a number of data centers when you can get maximum effect by concentrating the EMP in the NoVA/DC area.

I’m glad I have 6 years of this foolishness left before retirement.

By: Fed Deadline today for Data Center Consolidation & Cost Reduction Plans | GEAR Energy Systems

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:50:12 +0000

[...] Tuesday at the DataCenterDynamics Washington DC conference. The process got underway back in Marchwhen Federal CIO Vivek Kundra directed federal agencies to prepare an inventory of their IT assets [...]

By: Modular data centers option for Feds | GEAR Energy Systems

Modular data centers option for Feds | GEAR Energy Systems — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:22:54 +0000

[...] federal government has already begun what promises as the largest data center consolidationin history, hoping to dramatically reduce IT operations that are currently distributed among more [...]

By: Massive Federal Agency Data Center Makeover to Commence in 2011 | GEAR Energy Systems

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:54:54 +0000

[...] The federal consolidation is also likely to be good news for server vendors, as consolidations usually include hardware refreshes to take advantage of the latest advances in computing power and energy efficiency. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/03/01/feds-commence-huge-data-center-consolidation/ [...]

By: Cut the “Muda” in Your Application Portfolio:Achieving Leaner Data Center through Application Retirement | Shekhar Dasgupta Blog

Wed, 05 May 2010 16:17:33 +0000

[...] in the ERP version. The US Federal Government, for example, is embarking on the most ambitious Consolidation project ever undertaken. The other – and perhaps most important element of Lean Manufacturing was [...]

By: Prosha

Prosha — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:35:04 +0000

I noticed from the majority of the comments that most people have a really vague idea on how the majority of this consolidation efforts will end up. What is going to happen is the government will switch from the so-called “government-owned, government-operated” or “government-owned, contractor-operated” models to “contractor-owned, contractor-operated” concept. In simple terms, the government will not be buying the majority of new IT assets and neither it will build data centers (with few critical exceptions such as SSA data center). The contractors will own both, and have responsibility for hardware and software refreshes, etc. They will sell Infrastructure as a service. Therefore, most of these dollars will go right back to the private sector. And, on average, buying IaaS is 80-90% cheaper than owing the assets, as GSA example shows. The good comparison would be buying all the hardware and software to you can host your website on it vs. buying a web hosting with a vendor for $10 a month. So, please, spare the histrionics about unnecessary spending.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:00:33 +0000

Rich, you should actually read the article that you posted the link to about the 3.4 billion in stimulus for IT. The article very clearly breaks down where that 3.4 billion was going to. Of that 3.4 billion, only 12 Government Agencies will receive direct funding for a total amount of about 1.555 billion. That leaves the lions share of this to go for grants and undisclosed non-government entities for what appears to be mainly research and development of software and reporting. That is just short of 2 billion of your taxes dollars that are earmarked for a “Government” stimulus package that is flowing directly back to the corporate world. Of the billion and a half that the 12 agencies are receiving about 1/3 of that goes to build a SINGLE data center for Social Security, which leave about a billion left. Out of that billion, about half of the money is earmarked for “soft projects” such as research, development, automation and of all things, a “Capital Investment Fund” for the Department of State. Just what is an IT related “Capital Investment Fund” anyway? That sounds kind of vague to me. So all told, the total amount of money that is actually invested in physical hardware/infrastructure is about 1 billion split between 9 of the agencies. Remember too, this stimulus money only went to 12 agencies. What of all the other Government agencies – what money did they get in this stimulus? Absolutely nothing. Josh is correct, this is yet another top down managed “good idea” that no one thought through at all and no funds will be made available to execute it. Someone needs to actually think before they open their mouth and let a lot of BS full out that creates nothing but havoc throughout the Government. Greg, there is no such thing as a consolidation that doesn’t have equipment and construction impact. Consolidating 6 racks of servers into 1 rack and then moving additional equipment in from another facility to fill the space will create an additional cooling load. The number of servers did not go away, they simply became more dense. Adding more equipment from another facility not only creates this additional cooling load, it also creates the problem of direct localized cooling in a more dense environment. Hot aisle/cold aisle is not going to solve the problem when the CRAC units are arranged around the perimeter of the room and and you have now increase the amount of localized cooling that is needed per each rack and per each hot aisle. Consolidating in this manner will have you ripping your CRAC units out and replacing them with larger units and constructing a distribution method that provides more direct cooling to each rack. Consolidating by bringing equipment in from another facility also increases the power requirements for the room. These rooms do not have unlimited power and increasing the requirement will lead to pulling another power main into the room, increasing the rooms UPS size, which is not cheap, and creates side issues such as floor load – UPS batteries literally weigh a ton, additional space required for non-IT equipment etc. Further issues that come up when viewing these blanket mandates are ROI and capital investment issues. Lets say you just moved into your current Computer Room/Data Center a year ago. The cost to build that space out is a sunk capital investment that should be amortized over the length of the lease or the estimated life expectancy of the current configuration – which had better be at least 5 to 10 years or someone didn’t do their job correctly. The CRAC units, UPS, servers, switches, routers, cable plant – all have an associated ROI to them. Designing the layout of the room and the associated network infrastructure had an manpower cost – something that the Government is notorious for over looking. Yes … having a group of people work for months on an issue actually costs the Government money, their salaries are not free. All of this sunk capital investment and has a ROI. This needs to be considered since it impacts directly on your overall costs for any changes that are to be done in the future. To propose a consolidation now, a year after your investment, you will need to offset any future cost against those of your ROIs and sunk investment and prior to doing any changes, you will have to show that there is either a significant savings within a reasonable amount of time or there is a drastic increase in productivity that will warrant an offset to the cost.

By: Greg Ratcliff

Greg Ratcliff — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:57:59 +0000

As Josh and Rich pointed out, there may be funding issues with these consolidations if this is a replacement effort. If done correctly, these consolidation efforts often have large and rapid paybacks. I think the correct action, as Mr. Kundra has planned, is to first determine the current situation through assessments. I’ve been involved in many commercial and government consolidations; often the assessment recommendations (if followed) are a reorganization for more efficient operation in one facility, which then enables equipment and services to be moved in from another facility, instead of new equipment and construction. Key to gaining this efficiency is proper hot aisle/cold aisle organization, hot aisle containment and increasing the equipment “density” in the racks; essentially just moving equipment around for maximum efficiency. I have personally seen energy savings of 30% or more just through organization and equipment moves. Of course equipment density probably allows more efficiency of the staff also. This kind of energy savings can result in paybacks in just a few years – a blink of the eye in terms of government spending.