FW: [Futurework] U.S. to Close 800 Computer Data Centers
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FW: [Futurework] U.S. to Close 800 Computer Data Centers
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 11:05 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' Subject: [Futurework] U.S. to Close 800 Computer Data Centers U.S. to Close 800 Computer Data Centers
bySTEVE LOHR • July 20, 2011 Read
Later • ny times The federal government plans to shut 40 percent of its computer centers
over the next four years to reduce its hefty technology budget and modernize the
way it uses computers to manage data and provide services to citizens.
Computer centers typically do not employ many people to tend the machines,
but analysts estimate that tens of thousands of jobs will most likely be
eliminated. The federal government is the largest buyer of information technology in the
world, spending about $80 billion a year. The Obama administration, in plans
detailed Wednesday, is taking aim at some of that by closing 800 of its
sprawling collection of 2,000 data centers. The savings, analysts say, will
translate into billions of dollars a year and acres of freed-up real estate.
The government is following the lead of private business. For years,
companies have been using software that shares computing tasks across several
machines in a data center. The task-juggling technology enables computers to run
at far higher levels of efficiency and utilization than in the past, doing more
computing chores with fewer computers and fewer data centers. In an interview, Vivek Kundra, chief information officer for the federal
government, explained that the data center consolidation was part of a broader
strategy to embrace more efficient, Internet-era computing. In particular, the
government is shifting to cloud computing, in which users use online
applications like e-mail remotely, over the Internet. These cloud services can
be provided by the government to many agencies or by outside technology
companies. Tapping cloud computing services, Mr. Kundra said, could save the government
an additional $5 billion a year, reducing the need for individual government
agencies to buy their own software and hardware. Shawn McCarthy, an analyst at IDC, a research firm, said, “The data
consolidation is really part of a much larger reworking of information
technology by the government. You start with the technology plumbing, but the
goal is more responsive and efficient government services.” This week’s announcement, analysts say, is a significant step along that
path, naming 178 data centers to be closed in 2012. It is the second step in the
program. In April, 137 computer centers were singled out to be shut down by the
end of this year. But government officials say the federal agencies are moving faster than the
initial plans, with a total of 195 closings now scheduled by the end of 2011.
That would help lift the total to 373 data centers by the end of 2012.
The government, though late in starting, is on track for a particularly
aggressive winnowing of its data centers, encouraged by the need for budgetary
belt-tightening. “It is ambitious,” said Darrell M. West, an expert in
government and technology policy at the Brookings Institution. “In an era of
massive deficits, the federal government has to figure out ways to get more
efficient. The data center consolidation is part of that process.”
The cost savings simply from running fewer data centers is estimated at more
than $3 billion a year. There is an environmental impact too, since data centers
are power-hungry. By one estimate, an average data center consumes the energy
equivalent of 200 residential homes. The data centers to be shut down are varied in size. One facility run by the
Department of Homeland Security in Alabama covers 195,000 square feet, the size
of more than three football fields. But some of the data centers to be
eliminated are less than 1,000 square feet in size. The total opportunity for savings is so large, Mr. Kundra explained, because
for years each government agency tended to buy and build its own technology
systems. Across the federal government, he noted, hundreds of different software
programs are used for financial accounting and hundreds of different ones for
human resources management. The population of federal data centers swelled from
432 in 1998 to more than 2,000 by last year. “Redundant systems and applications sprouted like weeds,” Mr. Kundra said.
“We need to shift resources away from duplicative systems and use them to
improve the citizen experience.” More and more services will go online, said Mr. Kundra, so the focus should
be less on overall technology spending by government than on using technology
more efficiently to deliver government services, especially collecting and
presenting data in useful ways. As one example, he pointed to the Web site Healthcare.gov1.
It enables people to compare health insurance coverage and pricing options
offered by private companies and the government, and to compare quality scores
for hospitals and nursing homes, based on government data. The shift to modernized computer services has already started. For example,
nearly 140,000 employees at the General Services Administration and Department
of Agriculture have moved to cloud-based e-mail, Mr. Kundra said, saving about
$42 million a year. Google provides the cloud e-mail for the G.S.A, while a
Microsoft cloud service is used by the Agriculture Department. Mr. Kundra declined to estimate the job impact of eliminating hundreds of
data centers. The closings are determined by technology managers in the federal
agencies. Data centers are not huge employers, as military bases are, for
example. Yet even in the first wave of closings, Mr. Kundra said, “We have had
some pushback from members of Congress, but tough decisions have to be made.”
None so far, he said, have been reversed. References
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Original URL:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/technology/us-to-close-800-computer-data-centers.html?_r=1&nl=technology&emc=techupdateema3
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