Education network to consolidate datacentres

Tom Young, Computing, Tuesday 29 September 2009 at 17:30:00

Janet has issued a request for information from suppliers with a view to
cutting costs

The UK education network Janet is considering consolidating datacentres
across the higher education sector.

Janet has issued a request for information from suppliers with a view to
taking action over the next two years.

All further- and higher-education organisations and Research Councils in the
UK are connected to Janet, but until now computing power has resided in
respective institutions.

But a number of factors are pressuring Janet to review this strategy,
according to Dan Perry, head of strategic business at Janet.

"The education and research sectors already benefit from the Janet network to
provide a high capacity, reliable, resilient enabling solution," he said "Now,
in collaboration with stakeholders and sector and industry representatives, the
need for a sector-wide shared datacentre strategy is clear."

Janet is currently carrying out a survey of institutions to get a better idea
of what users might need from such a solution.

A strategy will be developed over the next three months and Janet is actively
seeking the views of stakeholders and suppliers.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2250331/education-network-share