FDCCI

Our Approach and Solutions For FDCCI Compliance and Success

ThunderCat Technology has partnered with our GSA Mentor, Knight Point Systems to create a specific methodology and process along with world class proprietary tools to guide Agencies through their entire Data Center Consolidation Initiative efforts from beginning to end.  KPS handles IT services and assessments with certified best practices. ThunderCat handles all procurement, software, hardware, and facilities.

At the center of our approach is KPS’ Hercules. It is a proprietary asset management, mapping, and optimization tool developed specifically for DCCI.  Hercules:

• Acts a central repository for IT asset attributes
• Tracks and helps manage changes in the IT infrastructure
• Maps complex physical and logical relationships among assets, applications, people and facility data

Hercules provides a single, easy-to-use application to manage all data center assets.

• Faster and complete infrastructure  assessments
• Increased infrastructure visibility
• Simplified change management
• Quick Compliance: It has specific Structured DCCI Reporting Deliverables to allow agencies to quickly and easily meet all OMB reporting requirements.

Our Solutions Are Customized To Fit Your Specific Data Center Consolidation Needs

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History and Background of FDCCI

The Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) is an Executive branch mandate from the Federal CIO that requires Government agencies to reduce the overall energy and real estate footprint of their data centers, with the targeted goals of reduced costs, increased security, and improved efficiency.

On February 26, 2010, The Federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, announced a Government-wide initiative to:

1. Promote the use of Green IT by reducing the overall energy and real estate footprint of government data centers

2. Reduce the cost of data center hardware, software and operations

3. Increase the overall IT security posture of the government

4. Shift IT investments to more efficient computing platforms and technologies

Announcement:  http://www.cio.gov/documents/Federal-Data-Center-Consolidation-Initiative-02-26-2010.pdf

As per Executive Order 13514, the Agency Strategic Performance Sustainability Plans, must outline their approach to implement best management practices for energy-efficient management of servers andFederal data centers and reduce IT energy consumption by a minimum 30% over a 3-year period (FY 2010-2012)

In September 2009, OMB established a government-wide inventory of data center activity by federal agency.  In February 2010, OMB issued guidance for the development of a government-wide strategy and agency data center consolidation plans to reduce the number and cost of Federal data centers, associated energy costs

Resources and White Papers

For the most current information and resources about he FDCCI mandate please visit, FDCCIConnect.com.

MeriTalk: Measure to Manage Report - Part II

In March 2011, MeriTalk worked with NetApp to survey 152 Federal IT decision makers and understand their data center consolidation progress, data center optimization metrics, and data center resource and cost savings opportunity.  Sponsored by NetApp and dated June, 2011

Consolidation Conundrum - Juniper Networks White Paper

August 1, 2011.  Report is based on survey of 200+ federal professionals conducted by MeriTalk in June 2011.  The report highlights the complexity created by consolidation. 60% say they are running 20 or more operating systems in their data centers, and 48% use 20 or more management software applications. Federal IT managers estimate computing needs will increase by 37% over the next five years. Moreover, they estimate their data centers will need to be scaled up by 34% to meet their growing needs.

GAO Report to Congress on DATA CENTER CONSOLIDATION

Agencies Need to Complete Inventories and Plans to Achieve Expected Savings.  GAO is recommending that the Federal CIO, department secretaries, and agency heads take steps to ensure that agency data center inventories and consolidation plans are complete. Dated July 2011.

25 Point Implementation Plan To Reform Federal IT Management: Vivek Kundra, U.S. CIO

A detailed action plan is laid out by US Chief Information Officer, including complete detailed implementation plans to consolidate at least 800 data centers by 2015.  Dated December 9, 2010.

Federal Cloud Computing Strategy: Vivek Kundra, U.S. CIO

Overview and Description of the Cloud First policy. The policy is intended to accelerate the pace at which the government will realize the value of cloud computing by requiring agencies to evaluate safe, secure cloud computing options before making any new investments.  Dated February 8, 2011

MeriTalk: Measure to Manage Report

In March 2011, MeriTalk worked with NetApp to survey 152 Federal IT decision makers and understand their data center consolidation progress, data center optimization metrics, and data center resource and cost savings opportunity.  Sponsored by NetApp and dated April 26, 2011

MeriTalk: Federal Data Center Addiction: The Road to Recovery

In September 2010, Riverbed worked with MeriTalk to survey 200 Federal civilian and intelligence IT managers to gauge consolidation status, examine agency strategies, and share lessons learned.  Sponsored by Riverbed and dated November 15, 2010

FDCCI FAQ's

Official answers to 17 of the most frequently asked questions about the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative published by the Chief Information Officer Council at CIO.gov.

Data Center Closings as of 4/11/11

Updated List of Data Centers Closings

State of the FDCCI Report- October 2010

Four page report from Vivek Kundra, Federal Chief Information Officer and Richard Spires Chief Information Officer, Department of Homeland Security.  Dated October 1, 2010

FDCCI Plan Template- June 2010 

This useful 37 page “How To” document provides further details on goals, definitions, phases, milestones, deliverables, and overall approaches to FDCCI.  Dated February 2010 and posted on CIO.gov in June 2010.

Recent Articles on FDCCI

Tougher Road Ahead for Fed Data-Center Consolidation
via GCN. May 18, 2012.  Whatever you call it, the relatively easy phase of the massive Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) is over.  Many departments and agencies have rid themselves of the most obvious efficiency offenders: small data centers, facilities previously marked for closure and IT resources deemed surplus to mission requirements.

DOD discovers IT consolidation best practices
via Federal Computer Week, May 11, 2012.  New IT investments have played a direct role in the Defense Department attaining a projected $60 billion in operational efficiencies through 2017 — from streamlined business processes and procurement to consolidated IT systems and staff support. Those efforts will be good practice if more drastic budget cuts are handed down.

196 federal data centers to be shuttered in fiscal 2013|
via Fierce Government IT. May 5, 2012.  The federal government plans to close 196 data centers in fiscal 2013 according to newly-released figures posted May 11 to data.gov by the General Services Administration's federal data center consolidation initiative program management office. Of the 196 data centers set to close 106, or 54 percent, are owned by the Department of Defense. The Agriculture Department plans to close 25, almost 13 percent of the total closures planned for next year. The Health and Human Services Department plans to close 12 data centers, or about 6 percent of the total.

Managing Federal Data Centers
via Federal News Radio May 1, 2012.  Interview with ThunderCat Technology CEO Tom Deierlein -- Vivek Kundra set an ambitious goal to drastically reduce the number of federal data centers.  It has been estimated that the federal government has over 3,000 data centers, and it will take drastic action to reduce that number by a third.

Navy calls for industry help in data center consolidation
via Federal Computer Week, April 20, 2012.  There are 150 data centers currently in the Navy.  The Navy is looking for help from the private sector in its efforts to consolidate its data centers, according to a panel of experts at the Navy League’s Sea, Air, Space exposition on April 18.   Consolidation is necessary because the Navy “has lots of rice bowls”—lots of offices and departments that want to hang onto their data—said Janice Haith, the Navy's director of assessments and compliance. But the Navy also wants to become more efficient in how it manages its IT assets and looks to commercial firms such as Google as examples to emulate, she said.

Latest Implementation Guidance from Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel
via CIO.gov March 19, 2012.  Latest update from Fed CIO including updated definition of a data center, scope of reporting requirements, and how to reflect consolidation execution in agency fiscal year budget submissions.

Bumps Ahead For Feds' Data-Center Consolidation
via Network Computing. March 6, 2012. While the federal government has mandated that nearly 40% (more than 800) of its data centers be consolidated by 2015, the results of at least two recent studies indicate several concerns about the implications of the consolidation. According to the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), federal government data centers quadrupled between 1998 and 2010, from 432 to 2,094, and, on average, they have been using only 27% of their computing power. As a result, federal CIOs are looking to consolidate effectively without compromising data center management by embracing server virtualization, shifting to a "cloud-first" policy and through modular computing.

Data On Government Data Center Closings Remains Spotty
via AOL Government January 26, 2012.  The latest data table at Data.gov featuring an interactive snapshot of the government's progress in consolidating data centers is nice to look at ("eye candy" as some might say). But there are two big problems with it:   First, it is not real data that can be copied directly into a spreadsheet and reused (try highlighting it and copying to a spreadsheet - it fails); and Second, when you do download the spreadsheet from the Socrata interface it has to be reformatted to map the data.

Complexity could jeopardize data center consolidation

via government Computer News: August 1, 2011.  Federal data center consolidation efforts are increasingly complex, which could jeopardize potential cost savings, according to a new survey sponsored by Juniper Networks.  

GAO: Federal Data Center Consolidation Plans Lack Details

via Information Week: July 28, 2011.   A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released this week found that only one of 24 agencies required to submit data center inventories and consolidation plans by the end of last August submitted a complete inventory, while not a single agency submitted a complete plan.

Feds Must Detail Data Center Consolidations By October

via Information Week: July 25, 2011.  Agencies will have to publish their plans online by October 7, according to a new memo by outgoing federal CIO Vivek Kundra.