mast03.gif (14245 bytes)
A Publication Featuring The Information Services Technology of Maine State Government

Volume VI, Issue 11

November 2003

Cornucopia With Leaves

Nexus Management Evaluating Data Center

In October, the Bureau of Information Services (BIS) contracted with Nexus Management of Brunswick, ME to evaluate the current BIS data center’s physical layout with the intention of improving air flow, cooling, and electrical capacity.

Background When BIS moved to its current site in January, 1999, approximately twenty servers were moved from the old State Office Building location. Since then, over 200 additional servers have been installed, including the Department of Human Services’ (DHS) servers from their old Western Avenue location, and major new installations for DHS’s Automated Claims Eligibility system (ACES) and the Department of Educations MEDMS project (No Child Left Behind). These new servers have caused dramatic changes in the computer room. Long, straight aisles have disappeared. Old hardware has been relocated and repositioned, and new hardware placed in formerly empty spaces. Recently, BIS has become concerned that the existing cooling, humidification and electrical power distribution systems in the data center may not be adequate to continue to support growth at the current rate.

Sometime before the end of 2004, the BULL mainframe will finally exit the data center. The State has run applications on BULL hardware for over thirty years, but when the Motor Vehicle Registration system, the DHS financial systems, and the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife applications are migrated to new platforms, the BULL will be retired. When the BULL mainframe and the BULL tape libraries are removed from the computer room floor, about a third of the data center floor space will be reclaimed, and will become available to house additional servers.

To insure that BIS can provide an ideal climate for state government’s computing hardware, BIS Production Services has commissioned a study of the data center’s floor space design and utilization, heating and ventilation systems, fire protection and other alert systems. The Environmental Configuration and Capacity Study will identify and define in detail the current environmental systems utilization and floor plan layout. The study will include an evaluation of the overall building design, current floor plan, and hardware and rack design.

It is understood that the hardware currently located in the data center will change over time. Nexus will not recommend that existing systems be replaced or modified, but it may recommend changes to the floor plan or configuring systems differently within their existing rack systems. Nexus will also review and evaluate the electrical, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning), and fire suppression systems against industry standards and currently available technology, so that BIS can plan maintenance and migration for computer room infrastructure.

BIS expects to learn about the current state of its computer room infrastructure and about what changes need to be made to make it suitable to support continued growth. Nexus will identify industry “best practices” that will allow BIS to plan for the future to offer a safe, secure, and economical environment to house critical computer applications.

Questions? Comments? Contact author Mark Kemmerle, Director of BIS’ Production Services by e-mailing mark.kemmerle@maine.gov.

[ Up ] [ A Public/Private Collaboration Promoting Maine Businesses ] [ Best of the Web ] [ Challenge for November ] [ Department of Agriculture brings Dog Licensing On-line ] [ GIS News ] [ Growing the Information Technology Sector in Rural Areas ] [ Knitters Needed ] [ Managing Antivirus Software Across the Enterprise ] [ New Legislation ] [ Nexus Management Evaluating Data Center ] [ On-line Aircraft Registration Renewal Service Coming Soon ] [ PC Genie ] [ Security Experts Ready to Help You! ] [ Transitions for November ] [ Work Smarter Using the Power of the Desktop ]