The journey toward software-defined storage is different for each IT organization. When choosing a s torage solution, it’s important to consider flexibility, availability, and agility. And of course—don’t forget cost. […]

IT departments are struggling under exponential data growth, which is driving unexpected capacity demands and exceeding budgets. Traditional storage appliances are too cumbersome, rigid, and expensive to handle this massive data growth. As a result, companies are moving from traditional, appliance-based storage to software-defined storage. […]

With every passing day, Flash storage solutions improve in capacity and features – and drop in price. If your organization hasn’t considered Flash before, or if you’ve only dipped your toe in the Flash waters, now is the time to investigate all the advantages Flash offers in speed, capacity and cost savings. […]

The journey to cloud for Federal CIO is complex, not clear, but one thing is certain… it is disruptive. In fact, many are now calling this journey to an automated infrastructure like cloud “the digital disruption.” Digital disruption is a top-of-mind issue for the Federal CIO. Agency senior executives are looking over their shoulders and […]

Meet Dave – Data Center Dave. Dave is your typical Federal data center. He’s lovable. He’s funny. He’s minding his own business, trying to meet his mandates. Click below to watch how he’s dealing with OMB trying to shut him down. […]

Meet Dave – Data Center Dave. Dave is your typical Federal data center. He’s lovable. He’s funny. He’s minding his own business, trying to meet his mandates. Click below to watch how he’s dealing with OMB trying to shut him down. […]

Meet Dave – Data Center Dave. Dave is your typical Federal data center. He’s lovable. He’s funny. He’s minding his own business, trying to meet his mandates. Click below to watch how he’s dealing with OMB trying to shut him down. […]

Meet Dave – Data Center Dave. Dave is your typical Federal data center. He’s lovable. He’s funny. He’s minding his own business, trying to meet his mandates. Click below to watch how he’s dealing with OMB trying to shut him down. […]

Meet Dave – Data Center Dave. Dave is your typical Federal data center. He’s lovable. He’s funny. He’s minding his own business, trying to meet his mandates. Click below to watch how he’s dealing with OMB trying to shut him down. […]

Office of Management and Budget’s push to shrink Uncle Sam’s data center footprint makes perfect sense for the bean counters. But, if it makes it difficult for people to do their jobs, it will fizzle. As Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) embarked on its virtualization adventure in 2006, the Infrastructure on Demand (IoD) team focused on the oldest rule in sales – the customer is always right. […]

“Cloud First” is a mandated operational model. Within the FAA, cloud services are already being offered. Service enhancements are planned, such as: service catalogs, self service portal, and automated server provisioning. […]

The U.S. Army knows the importance of reconnoitering the battlefield and clearly identifying what victory looks like before going to war. And, the Army’s data center consolidation regiment – Army Data Center Consolidation Plan (ADCCP) – knows a thing or two about “big-iron” combat. ADCCP set an ambitious goal in 2011 – to wipe out 185 Army data centers by 2015. […]

Janice Haith, Director, Deputy Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer (DDCIO) – Navy Division in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance, rolled out a vision for shipshape IT operations for the Navy and Marine Corps at the February Data Center Exchange meeting. […]

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management. He has introduced a number of measures focused on improving the Federal government’s effectiveness and efficiency, including the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act (S.3853) (signed into law December 2010) and the Information Technology Investment Management Act of 2011. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Chief Information Officer’s award-winning data center consolidation project drives millions of dollars in savings, boosts efficiency, and raises the level of data protection. The project also aims to consolidate systems and operations housed in 43 primary legacy data centers and numerous smaller sites into two enterprise data centers. The cost savings, while crucial in an era of belt tightening, is not the only benefit of DHS’ ongoing data center consolidation. […]

The year-old National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) supercomputing center in W.Va. aims to improve weather and climate forecasting, play a strategic role in the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), serve as a critical backup resource, and meet energy efficiency objectives. […]

Federal Government case study highlighting how NetApp enabled the Army to turn mobile command and control vehicles into full tactical data centers in both secure and nonsecure environments with full data protection and recovery. […]

Watch this video to learn how the flexibility and efficiency of a NetApp storage infrastructure helps Be The Match store and process more data faster, so they can facilitate more transplants in less time. […]

FDCCI has Federal agencies scrambling to cut down on data center space. Making its mark as a leader on this initiative, the U.S. Army has aggressively worked to inventory its extensive, nationwide, and international data center operations to identify the best and most appropriate consolidation efforts. […]

Within the Department of Defense, the Army’s data center consolidation program continues a strong and focused effort encompassing overseas operations as well as stateside bases and commands. In Europe, the 5th Signal Command out of Wiesbaden, Germany has been pursuing the Army Data Center Consolidation Plan (ADCCP), which falls under the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI). The FDCCI is straightforward: shut down redundant Information Technology (IT) assets. […]

The U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has made healthy progress on goals to consolidate its data centers, reflecting the government-wide push to reduce data center costs and avoid duplication. […]

In a time of uncertainty for the future of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, there are some agencies that have not only completed the mandates set forth by the current administration – but have set the bar high for others to follow. […]

While Federal data center consolidation is a clear priority for Obama and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), many agencies face challenges in meeting the aggressive mandate requirements and deadlines to close data centers. Leads know how many data centers their supposed to cut – but they’re unclear on the how. […]

Data center consolidation is a key strategy in the Federal IT playbook. The Obama administration is betting on consolidation to reduce costs, lower energy consumption, improve IT security, and enable the shift to more efficient computing platforms, such as cloud computing. But how do Federal IT professionals and systems integrators view the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative guidance, key pain points, and recommendations? How realistic are the expectations? Are the goals attainable? Will Feds get to the finish line? […]

In February 2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued its Data Center Consolidation Directive to reduce the then identified 1,100 Federal data centers. Eight months later, the reported data center population grew to 2,094. Under OMB’s direction, Federal agencies are working to cure their data center addiction to save energy and money, improve IT security, shift to more efficient computing platforms, and enable the data center workforce to focus on strategic IT initiatives. MeriTalk surveyed 200 Federal IT managers to gauge consolidation status, examine agency strategies, and share lessons learned. […]

On April 12, 2011, Senator Carper (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee, held a hearing on Vivek Kundra’s 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management. MeriTalk testified and provided the Federal IT community’s perspective on the plan’s desirability and executability to Senator Carper and the Subcommittee. […]

The Federal move to the cloud is on. As of December 9, 2010, OMB requires all agencies to adopt a “Cloud First” policy. Feds must choose a cloud-based solution first if one exists before initiating any new IT program – and must immediately begin transitioning existing applications to the cloud. Further, in February 2011, OMB provided additional direction to accelerate the safe and secure adoption of cloud computing. How many agencies have actually taken this step? How quickly are they progressing? […]

OMB tasked Federal agencies with eliminating 800 data centers by 2015. How are agencies progressing toward this goal? What are the most meaningful metrics to track data center efficiency? Do agencies have a clear picture of consolidation costs and potential savings? And, importantly, how much have we saved so far? […]

To save money, increase efficiencies, and fund the move to the cloud, the Federal government aims to eliminate 800 data centers by 2015 – with 137 slated for closure this year. In May 2011, MeriTalk and NetApp surveyed 157 Federal IT decision makers to dig deeper into the metrics agencies use to measure consolidation savings and to determine if agencies are increasing efficiency as they consolidate. […]

With the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) focused on reducing the number of data centers in the Federal government, consolidation is on every agency’s menu. Yet as the Federal government reduces the number of data centers to cut cost, the complexity of the remaining data centers will increase. As the complexity of data centers increases, the cost of managing those data centers also increases – jeopardizing the savings from consolidation. […]