FedTech Guide to the Data Center Optimization Initiative

In March, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo outlining the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI). This program supersedes the 2010 Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) and refocuses agency goals on data center management; in particular, data center efficiency.

Background

In February 2010, then-U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra created FDCCI to reverse the growth of federal data centers. The initiative uses the term “data center” to refer to a wide range of setups in addition to the traditional facility — essentially, the government classified as a data center any arrangement that hosted information technology infrastructure. This included spaces as small as a closet with one server in a government office.

Results

FDCCI helped agencies not only reduce the number of data centers, but also consolidate and streamline infrastructure. The Government Accountability Office reported in March that the initiative saved $2.8 billion as a result of the closing.

According to the GAO report, as of November 2015, 24 participating agencies had closed 3,125 out of 10,584 data centers. The departments of Agriculture, Defense, Interior and Treasury accounted for 84 percent of closings. An additional 2,078 data centers are expected to close by the end of the 2019 fiscal year, bringing an additional $5.4 billion in savings.

DCOI Arrives

While FDCCI has shown significant savings, it misses a key component of data center management. Data centers require a large amount of electricity and water to run, but some data centers do not use these resources efficiently. DCOI aims to improve the performance of existing data centers.

Under the increased authority granted to departmental CIOs in the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, government CIOs must now manage data center performance.

Agencies must install automated energy metering tools to collect and report energy use data to the Office of Management and Budget. Using the power usage effectiveness metric that measures how much power the computing equipment in a data center uses, CIOs must reduce their energy footprint. Any data center that receives a poor PUE score and cannot be remediated will be further evaluated for closure.

The memo continues the efforts begun with FDCCI, calling on agencies to continue closing facilities where possible. The memo also encourages agencies to invest in cloud computing and shared services models that will further reduce the need for federally owned data centers.

Expected Results

Many of the mandates must be completed by the end of the 2018 fiscal year. OMB wants agencies to reduce data center costs by at least 25 percent in that time frame. Agencies will report data to OMB on a quarterly basis, and beginning later this year, will author a strategic plan for the program going forward.

Reaction

Steve Sarnecki, vice president of the federal and public sector at operational intelligence provider OSIsoft, recently said the policy holds a lot of promise for government.

“There are a lot of good parts to the new OMB policy,” he said. “Government needs to look more at the total operating footprint. When they have data for all these factors, then they can make real changes.”

He just hopes those changes are sufficient.

“In many ways the policy does not go far enough,” he said. “It’s great that OMB took this step, but it only goes part of the way.”

For more on how the Data Center Optimization Initiative will improve performance and lead to greater efficiencies at federal data centers, check out fedtechmagazine.com/greendatacenters.

This content is made possible by FedTech. The editorial staff of Nextgov was not involved in its preparation.