Hawaii To Use U Hawaii's Data Center
The state of Hawaii is moving some of its information technology systems from its Kalanimoku primary data center to the UH IT Center at the University of Hawai'i to provide resilient backup and reduce costs.
The UT IT Center is a 74,000 square foot LEED Gold
data center facility that opened in February 2014. It houses the
enterprise information and communications technology systems for the
university's 10 campuses throughout the state. It features a
"disaster-hardened, 8,000-square-foot data center for enterprise
servers, storage and communications, high-quality space for faculty to
develop digital content, meeting and training rooms with
teleconferencing capabilities, modern workspaces for ITS staff, and an
emergency situation room to support UH disaster response," according to
a news release from the state. The facility also maintains a secure
environment with protocols for authorized personnel.
Meanwhile,
the state's Kalanimoku data center is an aging facility, and many of
its components are due for refurbishment and upgrades. "The state has
had IT facilities challenges for years, so when we were requesting
state funding for the new IT Center we made clear our willingness to
support other state programs as well," said David Lassner, president of
the University of Hawai'i, in a statement. By using the UH IT Center,
the state will be able to save millions of dollars in duplicative
spending, according to Todd Nacapuy, state CIO.
The state's
Office of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) and the university's
Information Technology Services (ITS) have signed a formal memorandum
of agreement (MOA). Under the MOA, the university has agreed to put in
place additional processes and procedures required for standards
compliance by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA), Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Justice Information
Services and personally identifiable information (PII).
Under the
MOA, the Office of ETS will "remunerate the university for its costs
each year, including a "true up" based on actual expenses from the
previous year," according to information from the state.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].