Powys County Council is cutting electricity use in its data centres by 75 per cent with virtualisation software that reduces server numbers from 80 to four.

The new architecture, which uses Dell hardware to replace the local authority’s obsolete data centres, will also provide an estimated 25 per cent increase in
performance.

The scheme has a significant environmental dimension ­ both reducing electricity use directly and cutting the number of chillers the council needs to cool its equipment.

But with local authorities under pressure to deliver improved services with decreasing budgets, cost is also a compelling motivation, said Powys head
of information and customer services Andrew Smith.

‘The system has freed up about £8,000 per year, which we have reinvested,’ said Smith.

Virtualisation is already popular in the private sector. Analyst Forrester says that three-quarters of businesses globally are aware of server virtualisation technologies, and more than a quarter are already using them.

Financial services group Standard Life, for example, runs 362 operating systems on its 37 virtual servers ­ a ratio of about one piece of hardware to every nine
operating environments (Computing, 19 July).

And the John Lewis retail chain consolidated its 57 servers onto nine physical machines in January this year.

Typically, organisations start with server consolidation programmes, but virtualisation technology can also be used to streamline desktops, applications and storage environments.

Powys’ infrastructure programme is part of the council’s wider plans to set up shared services with other councils.

In line with overall public sector strategy, the aim is to share basic administration systems to reduce management overheads, cut costs and improve the processing efficiency of IT systems. ‘Wales has a strong IT communication network to share best practice,’ said Smith.

Previously the council hosted three separate IT environments. Half its data centres used servers from 1999, and could no longer cope with demand.