(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Last month the White House’s Presidential Memorandum issued “Disposing of Unneeded Federal Real Estate,” which ordered Federal agencies to cut excess spending, specifically addressing data center consolidation opportunities within and across agencies.
The memorandum came just four months after the Office of Management and Budget released the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, which outlined a plan of action for Federal agency consolidation, including specific deadlines and milestones.
Government IT network MeriTalk (www.meritalk.com) recently released the results of “2010 Federal Data Center Demolition Derby” study, which analyzes perceptions of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative guidance, key points, and recommendations to meet consolidation goals.
Underwritten by NetApp (www.netapp.com), the study illustrates that despite the Federal IT community’s willingness to consolidate these data centers, many are unclear of the initiative’s objectives, its timeline and the plan to meet the initiative’s goals.
The report is based on an in-person survey of 143 Federal IT professionals and systems integrators at May’s “1,100 – How Many Federal Data Centers Does It Take.” event in Washington, DC.
In an email interview with the WHIR, NetApp senior vice president and general manager Mark Weber discusses the report and what it means for the US data center industry.
WHIR: Why did NetApp decide to get involved in this study?
Mark Weber: NetApp and other technology companies in the market are excited about the direction coming from Federal leadership, from the Federal CIO on down. We know what leadership is saying, but we wanted to take the pulse of the people who will be tasked with actually implementing the direction provided by the leadership to hear what they have to say about the consolidation, and the survey provided us with an opportunity to do just that. It is encouraging to see that they do not dispute the direction or the reasoning behind it. The rest lies in the details of timing, and the where and how of making this a reality.
WHIR: Why do you feel that the Feds are so skeptical about the consolidation of data centers being achieved in the timeline outlined?
MW: It is intuitive that the government does not change funding schemes, personnel, locations, etc. at the drop of a hat. These things are set in advance, often for long periods of time, and simply cannot be changed overnight. As a result, consolidation is going to take a while, whether it is trimming down in some areas and building up in others, it takes time. The public sector is inherently different than the private sector, and it is the opinion of the government employees that this will take longer than the aggressive timeline the government has set out.
WHIR: What challenges need to be overcome in order for Federal agencies to successfully consolidate the number of data centers?
MW: The 2010 Federal Data Center Consolidation Study got right to the heart of the challenges Federal agencies and the government as a whole face with the project, and culture is the number one challenge. Security is important, but employees’ fears over changes to facilities, equipment, control, etc. are the factors that need to be addressed before you even get to the technology side of things. Only 8 percent of the respondents think that technology will pose a problem, which tells us that Federal employees believe in the Cloud. Culture is a problem that needs to be tackled first.
WHIR: The study showed that 86 percent of Feds believe that government culture is the largest consolidation obstacle. What does this entail?
MW: Change is very difficult and slow for anybody, but the culture makes it even more difficult for the government. No one disagrees that consolidation is a good idea, but 86 percent do not want to see it unless it is their location that is going to remain standing at the end of the day. Fear is the obstacle that the government is facing, but it would not be any different in the private sector when the topic is something as sensitive to employees as consolidation. If there is going to be cost-savings, it will be on personnel and equipment, which means unfortunately some control will be lost, and that is never an easy pill to swallow.
WHIR: How important a factor is cloud adoption in achieving the consolidation of data centers?
MW: I think it is imperative. When you go to a consolidated data center, even with an internal, private cloud in the government, you need people to be accepting of the fact that their data is not physically sitting next to them, or possibly not even in the same building or state. There has to be a level of trust that the data is there, available, and will work when needed. For consolidation to work as it should, people need to buy in to the cloud and trust in it. Internal, private clouds will be the first move for consolidation across the government, but there needs to be a trickledown effect that people will become comfortable with the technology and eventually buy-in that it works and that it can work in an external, public cloud. You can’t get buy-in unless there is trust that the data center is actually going to provide what they need when they need it.
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