Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Data Center Resilience topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
NDIT flags critical data-center cooling risk, proposes migration to co-located facility
Summary
NDIT reported a critical risk in its primary and secondary data centers and proposed a one-time, multi-phase plan to transition to a co-located facility and flip primary/secondary roles rather than replace aging cooling systems.
NDIT staff told the Senate committee a risk assessment identified critical vulnerabilities in both the primary and secondary state data centers and recommended either remediation or a phased move to a co-located facility.
"Our secondary data center actually has a cooling plant right now that's largely unsupported. The coolant is no longer manufactured for it," CTO Craig Felkley said. He said high-level estimates to replace that system were roughly $300,000 to $400,000. The agency also identified a single-point-of-failure water/cooling issue in the primary data center.
Given limited in-house skill depth for data-center maintenance, NDIT proposed one-time funding to decommission the secondary site and transition services to a co-located facility near existing StationNET presence. In a second phase that could span multiple bienniums, the agency would procure temporary infrastructure and flip roles so the new site becomes primary and the existing primary becomes secondary.
Felkley said the data centers host critical systems for many agencies, including public safety services, and that cooling loss can cause rapid overheating. The plan is intended to reduce the operational burden of running two separate state-managed facilities while addressing the immediate equipment-obsolescence risk in the secondary site.
Ending: The agency requested one-time SIF funding for the planned transition; committee discussion did not produce final action during the hearing.
