Within the Department of Defense, the Army’s data center consolidation program continues a strong and focused effort encompassing overseas operations as well as stateside bases and commands. In Europe, the 5th Signal Command out of Wiesbaden, Germany has been pursuing the Army Data Center Consolidation Plan (ADCCP), which falls under the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI). The FDCCI is straightforward: shut down redundant Information Technology (IT) assets. […]

The U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has made healthy progress on goals to consolidate its data centers, reflecting the government-wide push to reduce data center costs and avoid duplication. […]

In a time of uncertainty for the future of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, there are some agencies that have not only completed the mandates set forth by the current administration – but have set the bar high for others to follow. […]

While Federal data center consolidation is a clear priority for Obama and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), many agencies face challenges in meeting the aggressive mandate requirements and deadlines to close data centers. Leads know how many data centers their supposed to cut – but they’re unclear on the how. […]

Data center consolidation is a key strategy in the Federal IT playbook. The Obama administration is betting on consolidation to reduce costs, lower energy consumption, improve IT security, and enable the shift to more efficient computing platforms, such as cloud computing. But how do Federal IT professionals and systems integrators view the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative guidance, key pain points, and recommendations? How realistic are the expectations? Are the goals attainable? Will Feds get to the finish line? […]

In February 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued its Data Center Consolidation Directive to reduce the then identified 1,100 Federal data centers. Eight months later, the reported data center population grew to 2,094. Under OMB’s direction, Federal agencies are working to cure their data center addiction to save energy and money, improve IT security, shift to more efficient computing platforms, and enable the data center workforce to focus on strategic IT initiatives. MeriTalk surveyed 200 Federal IT managers to gauge consolidation status, examine agency strategies, and share lessons learned. […]

On April 12, 2011, Senator Carper (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee, held a hearing on Vivek Kundra’s 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management. MeriTalk testified and provided the Federal IT community’s perspective on the plan’s desirability and executability to Senator Carper and the Subcommittee. […]

The Federal move to the cloud is on. As of December 9, 2010, OMB requires all agencies to adopt a “Cloud First” policy. Feds must choose a cloud-based solution first if one exists before initiating any new IT program – and must immediately begin transitioning existing applications to the cloud. Further, in February 2011, OMB provided additional direction to accelerate the safe and secure adoption of cloud computing. How many agencies have actually taken this step? How quickly are they progressing? […]

OMB tasked Federal agencies with eliminating 800 data centers by 2015. How are agencies progressing toward this goal? What are the most meaningful metrics to track data center efficiency? Do agencies have a clear picture of consolidation costs and potential savings? And, importantly, how much have we saved so far? […]

To save money, increase efficiencies, and fund the move to the cloud, the Federal government aims to eliminate 800 data centers by 2015 – with 137 slated for closure this year. In May 2011, MeriTalk and NetApp surveyed 157 Federal IT decision makers to dig deeper into the metrics agencies use to measure consolidation savings and to determine if agencies are increasing efficiency as they consolidate. […]

With the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) focused on reducing the number of data centers in the Federal government, consolidation is on every agency’s menu. Yet as the Federal government reduces the number of data centers to cut cost, the complexity of the remaining data centers will increase. As the complexity of data centers increases, the cost of managing those data centers also increases – jeopardizing the savings from consolidation. […]

While data center consolidation is the goal, server virtualization is an important step. So, how are agencies doing? Specifically, what have they virtualized, and what is the unrealized virtualization opportunity? Is the next logical move desktop virtualization? In October 2011, MeriTalk surveyed 302 Federal, state, and local government IT decision makers to understand their aspirations for and barriers to virtualization, as well as what’s next for government virtualization initiatives. […]

Since the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched FDCCI in 2010, agencies have scrambled to meet the 2015 deadline of closing 1,200 data centers. More than halfway to the key date, agencies have found that data center consolidation can save money, boost efficiencies, and free up dollars that can be used for innovation or to fund other programs. But, while agencies are realizing tangible benefits as a result of consolidation, they are challenged to demonstrate quantifiable cost savings. […]

Federal CIOs are surrounded by data. But more is not always better, and they are searching for ways to better manage the large and growing amounts of structured and unstructured data that their agencies collect and store. […]

Federal IT issues are on top of everyone’s mind. Shrinking budgets and demands to innovate make the Federal CIOs job harder than ever. Public-private collaboration is more critical now than ever. […]

With fewer resources, Federal CIOs have difficult decisions to make. But cutting corners on important solutions that protect data and applications is not sustainable. Public-private collaboration is a key to success. […]

IT has changed how Federal agencies deliver services. New applications automate processes, keep more agents in the field, and empower tens of millions of citizens to self-serve. And as data use escalates, so does the government’s reliance on data centers. […]

What’s the path forward for modernization? Feds recognize the innovation opportunity and are looking to cloud to help bridge the gap. […]

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) promises to be a lean, mean, cost-cutting machine, but what do Feds that are on the road to SDN say – is it all clear skies ahead? Download our report, “Automation to Support Government Imperatives: Dawn of SDN,” to find out. […]

The Federal CIO Council launched a government-wide Data Center Consolidation Task Force to consolidate and increase efficiencies and to help meet the overall Federal target of a minimum of 800 data center closures by 2015. The Task Force comprises data center program managers, facilities managers, and sustainability officers from 24 agencies that work together to share progress toward individual agency goals. This dataset reflects information provided by the agencies. […]

The Administration has expanded the data center consolidation initiative to include data centers of any size, rather than just those 500 square feet and above. And as we expand the initiative we are also expanding our goal. Moving forward, the government’s goal will be to close at least 40% of identified data centers, consistent with our original consolidation goal. That means we’ll be looking to consolidate at least 1200 data centers by the end of 2015 – a goal that requires us to continue aggressively rooting out duplication and waste in our expanded baseline of 3,133 data centers. As of March 2012, updates reflect a shift from calendar year to fiscal year reporting. This dataset reflects information provided by the agencies. […]

Data center closures for the Departments of State and Education. […]

The electricity rate would more than double in Chelan County, Wash., which would have dire consequences for data centers in the area. […]

Renewals for data center outsourcing deals during the past year reveal a drop in prices, thanks to increases in automation, and server and storage demand. […]

If you are looking for the Office of Management and Budget’s IT policy plans for 2016 and the IT passback disappointed you, see my earlier notebook entry, the really interesting future-cast came from the fiscal 2015 4th quarter update of the Smarter IT Delivery cross-agency priority (CAP) goal. […]

The art of analytics developed to the point that it can predict highly complex systems and structures. So it was inevitable that the enterprise would turn it toward their own data infrastructure. […]

Stacking containers inside a former steel mill creates a new modularly designed data center with abundant power. […]