DISA shuts down an enterprise data center
Closing the DECC in Hunstville, Ala., is expected to add $3.2 million to the saving from consolidation.
The Defense Information Systems Agency has continued down the path toward a consolidated infrastructure with the recent closing of the Defense Enterprise Computing Center (DECC) at Huntsville, Ala. The number of DECCs, which was at 18 in 2008, is now down to 10.
Closing the Hunstsville center is expected to save the Defense Department $3.2 million a year, DISA said in a release. To date, the data center closings overall have saved an estimated $17 million annually.
Personnel at the center all either moved to other jobs or opted to retire, DISA said.
The closures are part of DOD’s effort to cut down on the data centers at individual bases and move to a centralized, cloud-based model to support the department’s Joint Information Environment, an initiative to create cross-services information sharing. It’s also part of the Federal Data Center Consolidation effort, which was launched in 2010 reduce the ballooning number of civilian and military data centers.
DISA was appointed last year to be DOD’s core data center provider. The agency is developing a core computing infrastructure designed to provide secure access for DOD personnel, while providing continuous uptime
The military services also are consolidating their own data centers and IT operations. The Army, for example, has begun moving its enterprise applications to core data centers, a move the service says will save money by eliminating older, unused apps and standardizing on common systems.