Report: Government IT Execs Doubtful About Data Center Consolidation

Federal IT executives don't have a problem with the federal government's push for broad consolidation of data centers, but about three-fourths of them believe the timeline of the consolidation plan is unrealistic. The timeline calls for agencies to incorporate consolidation plans into their 2012 fiscal year budgets.

The findings come from a recent reportby government research firm MeriTalk, based on an in-person survey of 143 federal IT professionals and systems integrators at the 1,100 -- How Many Federal Data Centers Does It Take... event held recently at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

Back in February, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Federal Data Consolidation Initiative, which included specific phase deadlines with goals to reduce costs, lower energy consumption, improve IT security and enable the shift to more efficient computing platforms (i.e.: cloud computing). The White House recently issued a memorandum, calling on federal agencies to utilize data consolidation opportunities to reduce excess spending.

The MeriTalk report showed that 63 percent of federal IT execs do think the consolidation will happen, but 74 percent don't believe the shift can happen in the timeline outlined in the guidance. Of the fence-sitters, 12 percent doubt the initiative will result in any reduction of federal data centers at all.

"This new study sheds light on the gap between the vision outlined in the OMB guidance and the detailed execution required by the federal agency data center leads," said Mark Weber, president of U.S. Public Sector at NetApp, the survey underwriter. "We conducted this survey shortly after the initiative's April 30 deadline for agencies to conduct initial data center audits -- as feds were in the midst of compliance. Dovetailing off the White House's memorandum, this report reveals a timely opportunity for OMB to improve guidance, set realistic timelines, and clarify the goals to allow federal agencies to reap the initiative's benefits."

Other key findings from the report:

• 86 percent of respondents blame government culture as the top consolidation obstacle.
• 51 percent say that it would be realistic for their agency to give up its data centers and utilize services from another agency.
• 47 percent expressed concerns about utilizing a data center from a private company.

For federal agencies to fully realize the Federal Data Center Initiative's goals, the new report calls on the OMB to improve guidance by promoting the full spectrum of the initiative's objectives, updating consolidation timelines, clarifying expectations and confronting the larger cultural issues within federal agencies that are undermining consolidation efforts.