Thursday, November 30, 2006
Contact: Brian Hauswirth, 573-751-0290
Blunt Applauds Data Center’s Accomplishments in Efficiency
JEFFERSON CITY–Gov. Matt Blunt applauded the state data center for setting a new best standard in nine areas and on their efforts to improve efficiency.
“Employees of the state data center are to be commended on their long-term efforts to improve their operations,” Blunt said. “They have shown that state agencies can improve efficiency by doing more with less.”
Information Technology Officer Dan Ross initiated a review of the data center’s operational procedures and costs. Metrics Based Assessments (MBA), a vendor independent company that specializes in data centers, conducted the review. MBA has reviewed more than 2,500 data centers since 1989 including government, health care, retail and manufacturing.
The review consisted of 195 current observations designed to offer a clear picture of efficiency, by comparing the state’s data center to industry averages and best practices. Missouri set a new best standard in nine areas, including the cost to store data per gigabyte. Prior to the Missouri state data center review, the previous low cost/best practice to store data, per disk gigabyte was $3.12/month. The state data center set a new mark of 95 cents/month. The national average cost to store data per gigabyte is $17.86/month.
“This study is as much a learning tool as it is a pat on the back. We are looking forward to doing this in another few years and setting best practices across the board,” Ross said.
That long range plan started over a decade ago when Missouri consolidated into a single data center and continues as Missouri builds off of that successful consolidation with current IT initiatives. The data center stores such items as birth certificates and tax records on every citizen. Since 1996 that information has been stored and secured in a common data center serving all Missouri executive branch agencies.
For more information contact Dan Ross at the Information Technology Services Division at (573) 526-7741.
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