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By Mark Henricks
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers
recognized a Nevada project to create a statewide cloud infrastructure and a
data center consolidation and virtualization effort in Illinois as two of its 2010 honorees
for exemplary initiatives by state technology offices. Others included a
Michigan risk management effort and disaster recovery effort for its
cloud-based operations and, from Minnesota, a website redesign in the open
government category.
In a sign of the times, none of the honorees in the 2009
edition of the 22-year-old awards involved cloud computing, virtualization or
data center consolidation. All are, of course, central themes in today’s
government IT world.
Among the notable honorees was the State of Illinois Data
Center Server Consolidation & Virtualization initiative. The history of the
effort dates to 2003, when the state faced a $5 billion budget deficit and was
looking to cut costs. The Bureau of Communication and Computer Services (BCCS)
within the Illinois Department of Central Management Services identified data
center operation and server management identified as candidates.
The consolidation portion, begun in 2006, physically
consolidated servers into two primary data centers in Chicago and Springfield.
Twenty-two data centers and computer rooms were decommissioned, eliminating
22,800 sq. ft. of data center floor space.
The virtualization portion replaced 854 aging physical
servers with 190 new virtual servers, resulting in a total of 1,044 virtual
servers. The state recognized a return on investment of more than $10,798,000
between July 2006 and May 2010 as a result of the consolidation and
virtualization projects, according to BCCS.
The Utah cloud infrastructure initiative began in 2005, when
the state had consolidated technology assets into a single department under
state CIO Steve Fletcher. In August 2009, Fletcher announced plans for private
cloud that would deliver hosted email and web applications to cities and counties
within the state.
The state had already begun consolidating 37 data centers
and over 1700 servers into its two primary data centers. The cloud
infrastructure vision Fletcher outlined called for three main achievements.
First, they had to change the IT culture to accept a new type of computing
environment. Second, they needed to implement a highly scalable platform to
support private cloud services. Finally, they had to initiate a process for
identifying, selecting, and contracting for public cloud services.
The model they settled on relied on off-site computing
supplied by state data centers or offered through third-party service
providers. All supporting elements for solutions were bundled and managed by
service providers. The services were accessed via the Internet, using standard
TCP/IP protocols, with a Web browser interface. Main system interfaces were
accessed via Web services APIs.
The end result required minimal IT skills to order and
implement, and supported self-provisioning and self-service requesting. They
also provided 24/7 availability for order placement and near real-time
deployment. Pricing options were based on usage.
Other honorees included an Arkansas universal financial aid
management system, a child support portal in Pennsylvania, a motor vehicle
information database in Nevada, a health and social services benefit system in
California and a Virginia laboratory information management system.
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