News Article
Study: Data Copying Works Against Consolidation At Many Agencies
June 30, 2014
Despite a mandate to consolidate data centers, agencies continue to store redundant copies of non-production data, a practice that is counterproductive to consolidation, according to a new study by MeriTalk.
If current trends continue, agencies will spend up to $16.5 billion on the redundant storage by 2024, according to the study.
Cost savings must go beyond closing data centers “While federal agencies have prioritized consolidation and transitioned to more efficient and agile cloud-based systems, 72 percent of federal IT managers said their agency has maintained or increased their number of data centers since [the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative] launched in 2010,” according to the MeriTalk announcement. “Only 6 percent gave their agency an ‘A’ for consolidation efforts against FDCCI’s 2015 deadline.”
The problem is not primarily an excessive number of servers or an overabundance of data center space, the study found. Rather, agencies have “too many systems creating redundant copies of data for multiple purposes,” reads the announcement. More than 25 percent of the agencies are using more than half of their data storage space to keep copies of data that already exists elsewhere.