Data Center Consolidation Planning and Implementation in the Government Training Workshop

Workshop Description

This Potomac Forum Training Workshop provides an overview of data center consolidation in compliance with the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative. The Workshop provides a detailed breakdown of major components, reporting requirements and intended goals of the Federal Initiative and how to implement the initiative in the government environment to achieve an effective, cost effective and compliant data center consolidation..

Additionally, the training will describe specific frameworks, methodologies and approaches for understanding your current data center environment across several dimensions (including application workloads, server utilization, data center utilization, energy consumption/Green IT) , IT facilities management and real estate to develop comprehensive Agency plans for data center consolidation). This training presents a structured planning methodology and a real-world hands-on approach to executing data center consolidation and is focused on achieving optimal financial and energy savings results.

What You Will Learn

• Understand the main business drivers behind the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, in terms of data center sprawl, exploding energy usage and operational costs.
• Apply the Goals and Objectives of the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, including overall timelines, process, required information and expected interactions.
• Define the four key impact areas for data center consolidation and the related data center components that will influence your analysis and decision making process.
• Identify key cost drivers for data centers, highlight which components to target for optimal financial pay back and define what the most appropriate metrics to monitor progress are.
• Discuss real world constraints when developing data center consolidation plans including governance, contractual terms and software application requirements such as security.
• Understand the approach and individual phases for developing comprehensive data center consolidation strategies and plans.
• Consider the real-world trade-offs in data center consolidation between increasing utilization, minimizing energy usage and reducing cost on one hand and managing availability and controlling performance risks on the other.

Who Should Attend

• CIOs, Deputy CIOs and Staff
• CTOs and Staff
• Operations Managers, Data Center Managers and Staff
• Enterprise Architects, 
• Program Managers and Staff, especially those responsible for Data Center Consolidation Initiative
• Program Managers
• IGs and Staff

Why You Should Attend

• Learn how Data Center Consolidation can help you reduce your Agency's carbon footprint and facilitate the adoption of Green IT practices.
• Become fully aware of OMB reporting requirements and guidelines for Federal Agencies, in regards to the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative.
• Network with your colleagues on managing effectively and consolidating successfully Data Centers in the Federal Government, uncover potential collaboration opportunities. 
• Review the planning, analysis and implementation phases and tasks for Data Center Consolidation, and a proven roadmap for their successful completion.
• Learn how to evaluate Data Center Consolidation alternatives, how deploy technology automation, personnel and other resources most effectively.
• Understand the best practices to create a Data Center Consolidation Strategy, Plan and Architecture specific to your organization.
• Obtain practical experience in evaluating Data Center Consolidation alternatives based on hypothetical application load, utilization patterns and business constraints. 
• Gain insights into developing resilient Data Center Consolidation plans that can evolve and adapt over time, as new software architectures (e.g. SOA, Cloud Computing), hardware platforms (e.g. fabric/component - based designs), and energy/cooling management technologies (e.g. tiered data center pods and zones) continue to emerge.
• Learn the importance of data quality in planning and analyzing Data Center Consolidation activities and how to ensure optimal data quality via automated tools for asset inventory discovery and for virtualization analysis, 
• Understand the reasons why some Data Center Consolidation efforts fail to meet their objectives, and how to avoid such pitfalls.