Data Center 'Exit' Signals Move to the Cloud for Utah
Policymakers had other plans for the building that housed the state’s main data center. But as Utah CIO Alan Fuller explains, IT is using the opportunity to advance its multi-vendor cloud plan.
When it comes to IT infrastructure, you could say that Utah got a bit of a nudge toward the cloud from the state Legislature. As Chief Information Officer Alan Fuller explained to GT at this week's NASCIO Midyear Conference, the building that housed the state's main data center is scheduled for demolition.
The state has built a new data center facility, but they won't simply be using it to replace the old one. Calling it a data center "exit" rather than a move, they're using the opportunity to migrate as much as they can to the cloud. Services and applications that aren't quite cloud-ready will be moved to the new data center, but Fuller sees this as a preliminary step. Their eventual destination will also be the cloud.
Technology organizations that already had a significant cloud footprint found themselves in a better position to quickly adapt in early 2020 when the mass COVID-inspired shift to remote work took place. That flexibility is among the benefits that Fuller sees for Utah's overall cloud strategy as well.
"We’re hoping to get better scalability, elasticity, security, redundancy and lower cost," he said. "Those are some of our driving motivations to move to the cloud.”
Noelle Knell is the executive editor for e.Republic, responsible for setting the overall direction for e.Republic’s editorial platforms, including Government Technology, Governing, Industry Insider, Emergency Management and the Center for Digital Education. She has been with e.Republic since 2011, and has decades of writing, editing and leadership experience. A California native, Noelle has worked in both state and local government, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and American history.
Lauren Kinkade is the managing editor for Government Technology magazine. She has a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and more than 15 years’ experience in book and magazine publishing.
