Government Technology - January 2009 - (Page hp2)

hot/cold aisles in our data center,” said Janine Blake, manager of ADEQ’s technical support unit. “Now we don’t have a lot of fluctuation in our cooling, and that was huge for us to be able to have a consistent temperature in our data center.” With the cooling system upgraded, ADEQ began deploying powerful blade servers equipped with virtualization software. The combination let the agency deploy an average of almost 10 virtual servers on each physical machine, which cut energy requirements and greatly simplified ADEQ’s IT infrastructure. Blade servers utilizing energy-efficient processors delivered both power and efficiency, Blake said. “When we looked at the type of blades that we wanted to purchase, we needed the very high-end servers with powerful processors, but we still looked for servers that had low-watt processors and low-power RAM.” ADEQ expects these changes to generate dramatic benefits. For instance, Hardin predicts the agency’s use of virtualization and highly efficient blade servers will reduce energy consumption by 25 to 30 percent. Because the agency needs fewer physical servers, it also will avoid a significant amount of hardware and maintenance expenses. “I expect savings of almost 40 percent—and that’s being a little conservative, I think,” Hardin said. “That’s what our portfolio will yield us year after year.” world for us in terms of efficiencies and getting the best use out of our investments in infrastructure.” And the transformation doesn’t stop with the data center. ADEQ also is exploring other solutions, such as power-management software, to improve the efficiency and manageability of end-user technology. demand by consumers and businesses, and increasing the development and use of renewable energy sources. “Implementing these recommendations should cut our demand for energy by increasing energy efficiency, and improve air quality, all the while saving Arizonans money through reduced fuel costs and “I expect savings of almost 40 percent—and that’s being a little conservative, I think. That’s what our portfolio will yield us year after year.” Ron Hardin, CIO, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Transformational opportunity Beyond energy and cost savings, ADEQ’s new blade servers provide a flexible foundation for core applications. The agency is moving critical applications to the new infrastructure and evaluating how features like load balancing and hot-swappable parts can strengthen disaster-recovery capabilities. “We are looking at a data center transformation, and this is just the beginning,” Hardin said. “It opens up a whole new lower electricity bills,” Napolitano said. “Developing Arizona’s renewable energy sources—such as solar, biomass, biofuels, wind and geothermal—will help us reach these goals, and at the same time, create jobs. It’s a win-win for all of us.” Hardin said the governor’s green commitment is changing how Arizona approaches technology, from beginning to end. “There is a goal coming all the way from our governor’s office down through the individual agencies,” Hardin said. From green procurement practices, to more efficient use of IT resources, to aggressive recycling campaigns, ADEQ is working to conserve natural resources from the inside out. And Blake added that ADEQ gladly will Fighting climate change ADEQ’s green IT initiatives support share insight gained through its green iniArizona’s statewide strategy for reducing tiatives with other state agencies. “We definitely want to share ideas and also greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A 2006 executive order by Gov. Janet Napolitano be an example to other agencies,” she said. set a goal to reduce Arizona’s GHG emis- “We have the opportunity to do a little bit sions to the 2000 emissions level by the more because we’re not too big and we’re year 2020 and to 50 percent below the not too small. Our size allows us to move forward with some of the more leading-edge 2000 level by 2040. Napolitano’s order includes a series of technologies, maybe better than some of the recommendations developed by the gov- other agencies could as quickly as we can.” ernor’s Climate Change Advisory Group, including improving energy efficiency for buildings and appliances, reducing energy Although PC users in ADEQ are required to manually shut down their computers at the end of the day, Blake said the agency wants to automate and improve the process. “We are evaluating tools that can be used throughout the business day that do not impact people from doing their work,” she said. “If they are not using their computer, we want to be able to shut them down or put them in standby mode.” To reduce waste, ADEQ also uses duplex printing and recycled paper. “We turn duplexing on for certain printers in certain areas because it’s important to make sure we’re using both sides of the paper,” Blake said. Customer solution at a glance For more information please visit www.hp.com/go/government. Primary applications: The Arizona DEQ uses server virtualization to reduce the number of physical servers in its data center. The technology reduces both IT costs and energy consumption. Primary hardware: • HP Blade servers with efficient Intel processors. This Government Technology custom publication is sponsored by HP © 2009 e.Republic Inc. . All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. http://www.hp.com/go/government http://www.hp.com/go/government

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Government Technology - January 2009 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for... Stemming the Retirement Tide Getting the Picture Fact of Matter Money Trail Rays the Roof Trick or Tweet? The Modern Way to Vote Products signal:noise

Government Technology - January 2009

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