As remote and hybrid work continues to be the preferred choice for many government workers, good data management and cloud infrastructures offer many advantages and savings.
Telework in the public sector will likely be here to stay as more and more agencies are expanding their remote footprint. As if the expansion of telework was not enough, agencies also have to deal with an increasing demand for data storage, compute and networking as their municipalities continue to grow. HPE is working to help agencies facing those challenges with innovative and cost-effective solutions like project GreenLake, which is already active in many state and local governments.
HPE came to FedInsider to talk about their innovative new programs along with a state and local official who is already taking advantage of them. The following are some key points they made about new data management practices in state and local governments.
Featured Experts:
Thomas Farmer
Director of IT, City of
New Smyrna Beach, FL
Marc Kravitz
Hyperconverged Solution
Business Manager, HPE
Ken Huffman
SBM for Backup &
Recovery Service, HPE
Ryan Brooks
Storage Software
Defined Manager, HPE
HPE GreenLake Provides a Versatile and Affordable Data Solution
When it comes to optimizing state and local government computing, budget and adaptability are always a concern. Multiple agencies within these governmental institutions need to utilize their limited infrastructure for a variety of tasks. But generally speaking, state and local governments do not have an abundance of funds obligated to implement new infrastructure.
“We worked to make this much easier for the customer, especially for state and local municipalities,” said Ryan Brooks, Storage Software Defined Manager at HPE. “We’ve put the GreenLake platform out there, and it’s very customizable for customers who are using it as part of our cloud platform.”
According to Brooks, one of the biggest advantages to the GreenLake platform is that it gives state and local governments a low-cost way to get into the cloud without having to pay a bunch of up-front costs. Once they are using the platform, it then allows governments to scale however they need. For example, agencies can scale up storage without first expanding compute power or vice versa. Given the diverse requirements of most state and local agencies, GreenLake provides the flexibility required to meet all of their needs.
Other advantages include options like single sign-on, which gives government users the ability to access all of their resources from a single login. That also reduces complexity and simplifies management of their cloud resources.
Adapts To Agency Infrastructure Demands
No agency’s needs are the same, and they can vary even within each agency itself. Additionally, the need for computing power and storage may not mutually increase. This presents a cost and scaling problem that can be expensive to address. GreenLake presents a great opportunity through the use of disaggregated hyperconverged infrastructure (dHCI). And although this is a relatively new technology, there are some communities that are already using it, like the City of New Smyrna Beach in Florida.
“I’ve been extremely happy with the solution,” said Thomas Farmer, Director of Information Technology for the City of New Smyrna Beach. “Not having to worry about my server and storage infrastructure on a day-to-day basis is nice.”
Farmer said that the City of New Smyrna Beach was one of the first in the state to take advantage of dHCI through GreenLake. But based on that success, more communities are now also starting to adopt it.
According to Farmer, the GreenLake solution allows him to install new virtual machines (VM) in under 15 minutes using a wizard. And if those new VMs need more compute or storage than he currently has, it’s much less expensive for his city budget because he can expand one or the other independently. Also, as his city’s data management and infrastructure needs increase, he is able to accommodate that with a single phone call to expand exactly as required.
dHCI Projects Like GreenLake Offer Simplified Cloud-Based Data Management
State and local agencies need both flexibility and simplicity within their network infrastructure, especially as they continue to collect more and more data, and then try to use that data to better serve their constituents. The cloud is often a perfect solution, but is not always easy to get into for those who are not already experts in dealing with cloud infrastructures.
The solution offered by HPE is extremely easy to use. Farmer mentioned how he can make a single phone call to expand his cloud footprint. This is helpful for state and local governments that may not have a lot of IT staff. They can instead rely on HPE to provide that expertise.
“Our platform can cater more to the IT generalist,” said Marc Kravitz, Hyperconverged Solution Business Manager for HPE. “This allows a customer or a user to easily get into the cloud with an intuitive interface, and then allows them to manage not only their infrastructure, but also all of their virtual machines.”
Adding to that simplicity, most of the license management issues are handled on the backend by HPE, so local users don’t need to worry if they have a license to spin up a new VM. They simply arrange for the new resource to come online through the platform and can get started using it almost right away.
dHCI Offers Affordable Security and Compliance Tools
As with any government infrastructure or IT system, security and compliance are critical. State and local governments especially need backups for their data and computing infrastructure, both for disaster recovery programs and also as a failsafe protection against ransomware. Thankfully, HPE has built much of that functionality right into the platform.
“Security is key, so we make it very simple for customers,” said Ken Huffman, SBM for Backup and Recovery Service at HPE. “We built backup and recovery right into the cost model, so there are no surprises, and state and local customers are always protected.”
In terms of pricing, Huffman said that the backup and recovery services provided by HPE are offered at a flat rate, with bulk discounts built into the pricing model so that agencies can inexpensively expand their protection as their needs and their infrastructure grow.
HPE also makes it easy for agencies to evaluate whether or not a platform like GreenLake can work for them. They offer a simple, downloadable calculator tool that calculates every possible expense based on their needs. Once agencies see the advantages and cost savings they can achieve, simply contacting HPE can get the process of moving to a cloud infrastructure started for their state or local government.
