Consolidate, Virtualize, Energize Executive Summary
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Executive Summary Consolidate, Virtualize, Energize A Proposal for a Green IT Data Center Initiative for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Project Manager: Lori Schmidt Team Members: Lisa Neuttila, Matt Dorner, Lewis Muaka Executive Sponsor: Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Business Issue/Opportunity In order to compete effectively in complex economic and regulatory environments, it is necessary for institutions to plan proactively to decrease expenses. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities currently has 32 colleges and universities in its system, each having its own IT data center. The focus of this project has been on bringing awareness of energy usage and waste, finding solutions to reduce that waste, and building a standardized Green IT data center with alternative energy solutions. Project Business Goals and Objectives Create a program to make faculty, staff, and students aware of current energy consumption of computers and devices Select key staff members to obtain certificates in Green Technology Review the use of Active Directory and software to switch off certain devices during down times Take a baseline measurement of current energy consumption by use of monitoring software Utilize current server resources more efficiently with the use server virtualization Reduce heating and cooling expenses by incorporating alternative energy in the data center Reduce energy consumption by 5% in the first phase and 10% by project completion Confidential
Transcript of Consolidate, Virtualize, Energize Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Consolidate, Virtualize, EnergizeA Proposal for a Green IT Data Center Initiative for
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
Project Manager: Lori SchmidtTeam Members: Lisa Neuttila, Matt Dorner, Lewis MuakaExecutive Sponsor: Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
Business Issue/Opportunity
In order to compete effectively in complex economic and regulatory environments, it is necessary for institutions to plan proactively to decrease expenses. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities currently has 32 colleges and universities in its system, each having its own IT data center. The focus of this project has been on bringing awareness of energy usage and waste, finding solutions to reduce that waste, and building a standardized Green IT data center with alternative energy solutions.
Project Business Goals and Objectives
Create a program to make faculty, staff, and students aware of current energy consumption of computers and devices
Select key staff members to obtain certificates in Green Technology
Review the use of Active Directory and software to switch off certain devices during down times
Take a baseline measurement of current energy consumption by use of monitoring software
Utilize current server resources more efficiently with the use server virtualization
Reduce heating and cooling expenses by incorporating alternative energy in the data center
Reduce energy consumption by 5% in the first phase and 10% by project completion
Project Benefits
Monitoring and measuring created a savings of $5,000,000 over 5 years
Virtualization increased single server capacity by 65% with an overall energy savings of $384,000 at the end of 5 years
Savings on overall cost of server hardware of $768,000
Solar energy implementation realized savings of $4,000,000 in 5 years
Standardized data centers save energy, increase flexibility, versatility and ease of system management.
Confidential
Executive Summary
Total percentage of reduced energy consumption at project completion was 30% exceeding our goal of 10%
Future Project Recommendations
Enhance online education to increase enrollment and reduce carbon footprint
Mobile technology to replace PCs and thin clients, implement voucher system to assist with cost to students
Consolidate data centers from 32 individual to 10 regions
Data Center Design
Confidential Page 2 4/13/2023
Contact Information
Project Manager: Lori Schmidt; http://www.linkedin.com/in/lorisuzanneschmidt
Project Admin: Lisa Neuttila; LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lneuttila03
Project Technical Coordinator: Matt Dorner; [email protected]
Project Designer: Lewis Muaka; eFolio: http://lewismuaka.efoliomn.com
