It Looks Like a Bright, Sunny Day for Server Rentals as Federal Government Heads for Cloud

Private enterprises, ever one step ahead of the federal government, have long been converting their IT operations over to a virtualized infrastructure.

But the government does tend to catch up, as evidenced by a current plan to shut down nearly one half of its data centers. The move is meant to streamline costs and will ultimately save taxpayers billions of dollars a year.

The savings do stand to be massive, due to how very behind the government is with its current data center layout. Some of the facilities are hundreds of thousands of square feet – and the machinery inside could probably use an upgrade.

That’s where we come in, of course, because our server rental offerings range in scope and size. Our M3000, M5000 and M9000 servers, for example, are towards the higher-end – and are well-equipped to service the government’s needs.

And to rent is cheaper than to own.

The New York Times met with Vivek Kundra, the fed’s CIO, about the cloud planning, and here is what the publication shared. "[Kundra] explained that the data center consolidation was part of a broader strategy to embrace more efficient, Internet-era computing. In particular, the government is shifting to cloud computing, in which users use online applications like e-mail remotely, over the Internet. These cloud services can be provided by the government to many agencies or by outside technology companies."

While this move doesn’t surprise us bloggers out in the tech space, we do need to wonder: why did it take so long?

It’s a good thing that came too late – but the do-gooding it will accomplish now is substantial. For one thing, it seems like the current data center system is at the mercy of redundant applications and systems and there is a lack of overall network monitoring tools in place.

In an age where hackers are having a field day, cleaning this issue up is practically one of national security.

And then there’s the whole green angle. Data center emission cause global warming – and we all know how detrimental that’s been. A smaller, better-manager server base equates to less damage overall.

Fiscally and morally, it is about time that something was done.