[LINK] NSW data centres

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

State data centre push causes stampede 

by Fran Foo From: The Australian January 12, 2010 12:00AM 
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/state-data-centre-push-
causes-stampede/story-e6frgakx-1225818203385


THE NSW government has received 17 submissions from organisations 
interested in consolidating the state's 130 large and small data centres 
into two environmentally friendly facilities. 

The whole-of-government project is one of the most closely watched in the 
IT industry.

It is aimed at slashing costs by using NSW's buying power and reducing 
electricity consumption in government data centres.

NSW's call for expressions of interest was answered by household names in 
the real estate, data centre infrastructure, information technology and 
computer services sectors. Two financial service firms, Macquarie Capital 
Group and Gresham Rabo Management, have also thrown their hats into the 
ring.

The others include Leighton Contractors, Canberra Data Centres, CSC, 
Equinix, Fujitsu, Global Switch, Oracle and Sun.

The Australian Centre for Advanced Computing and Communication, Datacom 
Systems, Enterprise Data, Macquarie Telecom, Tier 5, Verb IT and the 
Trustee for the Plenary Group Unit Trust also voiced interest.

The tender process is expected to kick off by March. The contract will 
initially span 10 years for the design, construction and maintenance of 
the facilities, with a 10-year extension option.

NSW has selected the departments of health and education as anchor 
tenants.

Both data centres are expected to be fully operational next year at new 
or existing sites.

Construction of new facilities could lead to the creation of about 500 
jobs, the government estimates.

The consolidation program could cut the state's data centre electricity 
bill by up to 40 per cent.

The Hunter Valley, Illawarra, Goulburn-ACT border, Bathurst, Orange and 
the Blue Mountains have been suggested as possible sites due to their 
environmental advantages, such as low ambient air temperatures.

Victoria and Queensland also have plans to trim their government data 
centres.

The federal government has embarked on a data centre consolidation and 
tasked the Australian Government Information Management Office to develop 
a whole-of-government data centre strategy.

AGIMO presented its report on the matter before Christmas.

A spokesman for Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner declined to reveal the 
recommendations.

Five federal departments and agencies had been under pressure to upgrade 
their data centres to avoid IT disasters.

Subsequently, a stopgap measure was initiated by Mr Tanner in September 
to avoid service delivery failures while waiting for the AGIMO report to 
be finalised. An interim data centre panel was named, made up of Canberra 
Data Centres, Fujitsu, Global Switch, Polaris and Harbour MSP.

Centrelink was first to act, awarding a $4.88 million contract to 
Canberra Data Centres to lease a "green" data centre in Hume, ACT, for 
two years.

Several departments have approval to use the temporary measures.

--

Cheers
Stephen


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