Data Centres
Introduction
The Australian Government approved the Data Centre Strategy in March 2010. This was a result of the Review of the Australian Government’s Use of ICT, (the ICT Review) undertaken by Sir Peter Gershon. Recommendation 5 of the ICT Review was to develop a whole-of-government approach to avoid $1 billion of future data centre costs.
This Strategy affects all Commonwealth agencies. Agencies that operate under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) must follow the approach (with a limited exception for national security activity). Agencies that operate under the Commonwealth Authorities and Corporations Act 1997 may choose to adopt it.
Implementation of the Strategy
Data Centre Panels
To help implement the Strategy, two data centre panels have been formed. Using these panels is mandatory for FMA Act agencies, and may also be used by:
- bodies subject to the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 (Cth); and
- all bodies governed by a State Governor or by Minister of a State or Territory or over which a State or Territory exercises control (including departments in State and Territory Governments).
For further information on the Panels please see:
- Data Centre Facilities Panel
- Data Centre Migration Services Panel
- Other coordinated procurement panels or contract arrangements
Data Centre Optimisation Targets Policy
Endorsed by the Chief Information Officer Committee (CIOC) in April 2011, the Data Centre Optimisation Targets Policy (the Policy) establishes the performance targets to be met by FMA Act agencies. These include targets for data centre Power Usage Efficiency (PUE), server utilisation and storage utilisation.
A Data Centre Optimisation Planning Model and Guidance document have been developed to help agencies meet these targets. These are available to agencies through GovCIO, GovDex or by contacting AGIMO at datacentres@finance.gov.au.
Data Centre as a Service (DCaaS)
The Data Centre as a Service (DCaaS) project completed Stage 1 of the project in early 2011. Agencies were asked to nominate those services they thought DCaaS should provide. The most popular services were those around disaster recovery (DR), shared back-up and restore and shared storage. Stage 1 recommended sourcing services of high interest to agencies, notably DR.
Stage 2 of the DCaaS project aimed to identify agency requirements and potential solutions for DR. After consultation with agencies, the scope has increased to include other services. Whilst the services will still be targeted to the smaller agencies, medium to large agencies will also be encouraged to use the arrangements. Further information will be released via the AGIMO blog .
Contact for information on this page: Datacentres@finance.gov.au