GSA, the managing partner of the recently announced government-wide Data Center Optimization Initiative, has said that cost alone will not drive decisions, even though achieving savings is one of the goals, along with consolidating and optimizing existing facilities and transitioning to a more efficient infrastructure.
In a blog post, GSA’s office of government-wide policy said its primary objectives will be:
* Encouraging the best-equipped federal data centers to provide services to other agencies, based on the notion that most programs, bureaus and agencies should be focused on their mission and not the costs and risks of operating their own data centers.
* Fostering an internal federal marketplace for data center services through which customer agencies can select the best match for their needs from interagency shared service providers and the private sector.
* Charting a clear path to the cloud by moving away from a dependence on physical infrastructure, modernize IT and minimize spending on legacy systems and infrastructure, and improve cybersecurity.