6: Rationalization and Redirection

Rationalize and Redirect Investments to Achieve Greater Benefit

Other Information:

Significant parts of the federal IT infrastructure present tremendous opportunities to achieve economies of scale. These include standardization and consolidation of fundamental IT building blocks, such as, data centers, networks, administrative applications, desktop systems, and help desks.. As an example, the consolidation of data centers presents an opportunity to stimulate a segment of the IT industry that is rapidly moving offshore. Federal “mega centers” would concentrate more processing power in a single facility than currently exists, providing the impetus to push the state of the art. This suggests the prospect for establishment of a national center of excellence in data center management. By creating these mega centers in economically challenged areas of the country, the government could also encourage technology companies to invest in building the skilled labor base necessary to attract further investment to the area. Savings from this consolidation could be invested in other technology areas.

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