By Lilia Guan
A whole of government panel for the provision of data centre migration services to Australian Government agencies has been put in place.
The panel, consisting of Colliers International Project Services; Dell Australia; Dimension Data; Fujitsu Australia; Hewlett Packard; and the Frame Group will assist agencies to move into data centres.
Special Minister of State Gary Gray said moving between data centres can be a complex exercise.
“Most agencies have limited experience in undertaking such an activity,” he said.
“The companies on this panel will work with agencies to plan and execute such moves ensuring minimal impact on services to the Australian community.”
The minister said the panel will be in place for five years and agencies will use the panel when they need assistance to move from existing data centres into new data centres.
“Reasons for moving data centres can include the expiration of leases, requiring additional power to support IT equipment or changes in IT outsourcing arrangements,” Mr Gray said.
The Enterprise Data Centre’s facility in Mitcham Victoria; Equinix’s facility in Alexandria New South Wales; and Australian Data Centres in Mitchell ACT, have been added to the previously announced Data Centre Facility Panel he said.
It is mandatory for Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA) agencies to use this panel and optional for agencies under the Commonwealth Authority and Companies Act 1997 (CAC).
State government agencies can use this panel as well.
“These are the first of several data centres at the fit out stage of construction added to this panel,” Minister Gray said.
“For this panel, a small number of companies from the ACT and elsewhere may be added to the panel in the near future.”
The Department of Finance and Deregulation’s 'Australian Government Data Centre Strategy' states the government spends about $170 million annually on electricity for its data centres, of which ICT uses $70 million.
The cooling for the ICT and other data centre support systems uses the remainder.
However modern data centres are more efficient in their use of electricity.
It is estimated that using modern data centres would avoid $35 million per annum in electricity costs alone.
Environmental sustainability matters are increasingly important. Government data centre operations currently generate around 300,000 tonnes of carbon annually.
Modern data centre technology can reduce this carbon footprint by around 13 per cent or 40000 tonnes per annum.
Further reductions are possible by using data centres in the many locations in Australia that can exploit the free cooling available when the air temperature is below 16 degrees celcius.
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