Consolidate, Virtualize and EnergizeA Proposal for a Green IT Data Center Initiative for

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

Lori Schmidt, Project ManagerLisa Neuttila, Project Administrator

Matt Dorner, Project Technical CoordinatorLewis Muaka, Project Designer

Table of Contents

Background    3Current Situation    3Project Goals    3Project Scope    4Project Milestones    4Critical Success Factors    4Roles and Responsibilities    5Projection Authorization    5

Project Name: Consolidate, Virtualize and    Energize Project Number: 8423

Project Date: 02/01/2011 Revision Number: 02

Background

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have 32 colleges and universities in its system.  Each college has an IT department with numerous servers, computer terminals and the necessary equipment to cool and power them.  The proposed reduction in

education funding is causing MNSCU to face the challenge of using current equipment more efficiently in order to reduce energy consumption and expenses

Current Situation

In order to compete effectively in today's complex economic and regulatory environment it is necessary for institutions to plan proactively.  Increased enrollment drives the demand for more data center space, storage, and energy requirements. According to IBM, for every dollar spent on hardware in a data center, another 50 cents is spent on the energy to power the system. This is causing environmental issues and increasing the costs of doing business.  Gartner says that two thirds of all the Greenhouse gas emissions come from PCs, monitors, servers and the cooling system in the IT department.

Project Goals

Current proposals call for a reduction in Minnesota’s higher education funding. At the same time, awareness is growing of the financial and environmental costs of continued dependence on fossil fuels. This project proposes to address both these concerns by consolidating the current information technology services into a more energy efficient system.

To achieve these goals this project will:

Use server virtualization to utilize current server resources more efficiently This project will reduce the number of underutilized computer terminals by

offering  vouchers to students for alternative mobile technology Incorporate alternative energy in the data center to reduce heating and cooling

expenses Increase awareness of faculty and staff about energy consumption with the goal

of selecting key staff members to obtain certificates in Green Technology in order to make a smooth transition

Online classes will be enhanced and expanded in order to decrease the current carbon footprint

Project Scope

The goal of reducing energy consumption will be achieved by:

Online courses for student and telework for faculty will be promoted beyond what is currently in place.

Make current servers more efficient by using virtualization and then documenting when physical servers have been retired to keep track of cost savings

Consolidate datacenters and implement virtualization to reduce hardware costs and energy usage in datacenters, as well as keep up-to-date with green data-center design technologies and B3 recommendations

A program to make faculty, staff and students aware of current energy consumption of computers and devices and ways to reduce consumption (U of MN study)

A baseline of current energy consumption by use of monitoring software. Review the use of Active Directory and software to switch off certain devices

during down times. Purchasing energy efficient products to replace current devices as needed.

Project Milestones

Management Approval Begin Project-March - 2011 Phase I completion-executive committee reviews progress Goal of Phase I is to reduce energy by 5% Continue with Project Goal at completion is energy reduction of 10% Completion of all phases in project - 2016

Critical Success Factors

Project must meet customer requirements by having a good return on investment

Reduction in energy consumption by 5% in the first phase and 10% by project completion

Project must meet all state and federal standards and requirements

Education and training of all essential staff on new technologies implemented

Roles and Responsibilities

Name Role Responsibility Contact InfoMnSCU Project

Owner

Lori Schmidt

Project Manager

Manager schm0133@my.century.edu

Lisa Neuttila

Administrator

Agenda/Minutes/Notes

neut0002@my.century.edu

Matthew

Dorner

Project Technical

Coordinator

Site management dorn0013@my.century.edu

Lewis Muaka

Technical Designer

Drawing technical specs

lewis.muaka@century.edu

Projection Authorization

Approved by: President Date

Approved by: IT Manager Date

Approved by: Project Manager

Date