The Obama administration launched the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) in 2010 as part of an ambitious effort to push the federal government to modernize its aging data centers, IT systems and cyber practices. In 2016, the introduction of the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) superseded FDCCI and further prioritized the modernization of aging government data centers.
In the past, Uncle Sam has notoriously lagged behind the private sector in terms of adoption of IT innovations, a problem that compounds with every new generation of data centers and IT systems.
The two aforementioned initiatives are good, well-intentioned efforts that have improved the state of federal IT systems, but any objective analysis will show progress remains slow and legacy systems largely entrenched.
Many federal agencies may be uncomfortable with rapid changes in their data centers and IT systems, but the private sector and many international friends and foes are not.
Despite the slow and often uneven progress toward modernization, realizing the performance, security and savings goals that have been set in the government IT space is possible. This paper from Vertiv explores what it will require to bring the U.S. government fully into the 21st century.