Last week, the House of Representatives passed the “Energy Efficient Government Technology Act,” which will place energy efficiency standards on Federal data centers and require OMB to collaborate with agencies on plans to purchase and use energy efficient data center technologies.
Since the Data Center Optimization Initiative launched in 2016, the government has been looking for ways Federal agencies can reduce the energy footprint of data centers, decrease the cost of data center operations, and increase overall IT security. Ultimately, their goal is to transform data centers into smaller and better-utilized facilities.
And, Federal CIOs know they need fewer buildings and combined server, networking, and storage resources that can handle multiple applications utilized across departments. At the end of the day, CIOs want IT to operate as a service – enabling agencies to achieve their efficiency goals.
Agencies need to hit all the marks of this newly mandated initiative by September 30, 2018. But when some, like the Army, need to shut down 60% of its 1,200 data centers, and are already behind, where do you begin?
The road to DCOI-Compliance
Server, storage, and networking capabilities must work together seamlessly in a simplified infrastructure. In addition, platforms and solutions must be secure, reliable, and easy for IT departments to deploy and manage within the infrastructure.
Solutions checklist for your DCOI journey
When searching for a solution that fits your consolidated data center’s needs, you should keep the following items in mind:
- Does it optimize existing applications?
Your new solution should deliver increased application performance to drive greater productivity, speed decision making, and provide opportunities for growth. Ideally, it should be able to host multiple instances of mixed applications in a single shared infrastructure with a centralized management.
- Can it embrace hybrid cloud?
With growing requests, from application updates to support for mobile users, the solution must go beyond the typical data center constraints and become scalable to support any cloud – and as-a-service – initiatives. It should also have the flexibility to manage data from flash to disk to cloud with a single set of tools.
- Does it simplify IT?
Your data center solution should also reduce complexities – freeing your IT team to focus on new and improved services, and continued innovation.
For example, the FlexPod Datacenter can be deployed in various operating environments and provides cooperative support to simplify and streamline maintenance for the newly converged infrastructure.
- Will it deliver real savings?
With little to no difference in cost between flash and disk memory, flash is no longer just reserved for high-performance workloads. The less physical space needed for drives can help further reduce data center space. In addition, reduced power consumption with flash memory can result in additional savings.
While we don’t know what changes the new administration will bring – it’s a good bet that we’ll continue to embrace efficiency and reduce costs where possible, at the same time as we modernize and enhance system performance. The right tools will fast track progress and create a simplified, more efficient data center.