USA Government data centre reduction

by **BobHelm** » April 14, 2011, 1:14 pm

I was not sure if to post this in Finance or Computers... so settled for World News.

It seems that the new Congress (in a bid to find some spending savings) has hauled Vivek Kundra in front of them...
Not exactly a name I recognise (or that trips easily off the tongue

) but he is the Chief Information Officer of the Federal Government.

He gave them the news that the Government are to shut 800 data centres down by 2015. It will hardly leave the nation denuded of them though. According to his figures there are 2094 of them...Good grief that is over 40 data centres per State. It has been a recent growth market though...

Since 1998 the Federal Government has increased the number of its data centers, from 432 to 2,094, a 385 percent increase. This growth is unsustainable. That is why we are actively shutting down 800 data centers by 2015.

I guess that is one result of the Patriot Act, snoop more means more to record.

Senator Thomas Carper (D-Del.) said in his opening remarks that the Government will lose $205M to $405M on just 1 failed project - a National Archives Electronic Records initiative.

I gather that there is now a '25 point plan' to fix IT management within Government. I don't know what the details are, but I wish them luck. My experience tends to suggest it will end up being little more than window dressing...

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/fed-cio-k ... ag=nl.e539

by **KHONDAHM** » April 14, 2011, 10:57 pm

Not surprised. When Obama took office, White House computers were running Windows XP...without most patches...

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/01/wired-or-tired/

The biggest problem has always been a lack of centralized systems planning resulting in agencies doing their own thing in their little fiefdoms and then not being able to communicate effectively or share info between agencies. A huge pork barrel filled with overcompensated consultants dragging their feet to stay at the trough.

by **tigerryan** » April 15, 2011, 8:57 am

I always thought it was Theifdom ......but you right.

by **FrazeeDK** » April 16, 2011, 5:16 pm

The White House CIO promulgated a 25 point plan for all U.S. Federal Agencies to follow. Most of it hinges on consolidating services via "cloud computing" and does indeed put a cap on the proliferation of "Data Centers". http://www.cio.gov/documents/25-Point-Implementation-Plan-to-Reform-Federal%20IT.pdf Most of it makes a lot of sense but the time lines are very strict with some portions of the plan mandated to be starting "soon" (within a 6 month cutoff from the plan's publication in Dec 2010).

USA Government data centre reduction