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District of Columbia Consolidates Data Centers

Why have nine when two will do?

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Mayor Anthony Williams said this week that the District of Columbia government has consolidated hardware, software and personnel from nine data centers into two mainframe data centers.

The results of this three-year effort are better service for government agencies and the public, and an estimated annual savings of $1.2 million, officials said.

"This consolidation has not only saved us a significant sum of money, but our technology systems are operating better than ever," said Mayor Williams. "One of my goals has been to make government work more efficiently, and, through this consolidation, we are doing so."

Prior to 2000, the District of Columbia had nine separate data centers to keep information systems operating, officials said, and each center had its own hardware, software and employees.

In 2000, the DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer devised a multiyear plan to consolidate the nine centers into two locations to avoid duplication of effort and added costs.

By the end of 2002, a single pair of data centers housed two new IBM central processing units and enough capacity to store and back up all of the District of Columbia's data. The two new centers mirror each other, allowing quick data recovery in the event of a natural disaster or major system interruption.

Besides saving $1.2 million per year, officials said data-center consolidation should create additional benefits; including automating functions, greater mainframe system availability, reliability and serviceability, better protection of data integrity; and greater stability and consistency in daily operations.

Office of Mayor Anthony Williams