Data Centre Reform

Data Centre Reform

Data Centre Reform

A data centre is a specialised facility where an organisation maintains its critical computing, communications and data storage systems.  NSW Government data centres process and store confidential information about the State, the way that it is run and personal information about the people who live here.

Data centre reform will address the Government’s ever-increasing demand for computing capacity while minimising projected increases in data centre electricity consumption and associated recurrent expenditure.  Data centre reform also provides the opportunity to improve disaster recovery capability and the overall reliability of agencies’ computing systems while reducing data centres’ environmental impact.  

• The Government’s ever-increasing demand for computing capacity is being driven by several factors, including the increased use of electronic transactions across government (such as medical imaging), the growing use of internet communication, electronic record-keeping, as well as enhanced disaster recovery and information security requirements.  This is a trend that is reflected globally. In 2007, the United States’ Environmental Protection Authority estimated that the total energy use of data centre infrastructure systems in the United States under a “Current efficiency trends scenario” would grow by about 11.1% per annum between 2007 and 2011.
• It is estimated that emissions from NSW Government data centres currently equate to emissions from around 24,400 cars.
• The Government Chief Information Office is investigating options for data centre reform, including commissioning purpose built data centres to improve the security, capacity and reliability of processing and storing data across government, as well as reducing costs and the Government’s carbon footprint.