Victoria ITS celebrates server room upgrade

victoria-university-of-wellington

Thu Oct 20 2005 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Victoria ITS celebrates server room upgrade

Thursday, 20 October 2005, 2:29 pm
Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington

MEDIA RELEASE

20 October 2005

Victoria University’s Information Technology Services is celebrating the completion of a major $1.7 million upgrade of its server room.

The upgrade, one of the most complex projects ever implemented by ITS, has seen the University’s computer systems move from being housed in an out-of-date room to one that is state-of-the-art and laid out according to best practice.

The complex project involved moving 160 servers between July and September while minimising the disturbance to the University’s 3,000 staff and more than 20,000 students.

Professor Warwick Clegg, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Information Technology), hailed ITS’ successful management of the project.

“This is one of the most complex server room upgrades that has been attempted in New Zealand. The ITS team, led by Director Alan Dempster, completed the project on time, on budget and without any unplanned outages. The team put in place a clear project plan of moves and resources. Working with University’s Public Affairs Directorate, they consulted and communicated their plans to the University community.

“IT providers often have a data centre where they can move all their equipment while an upgrade or infrastructure improvement of this magnitude is being done. Instead, ITS rebuilt the room around the servers and within the same environment but at the same time continued to provide services to staff and students.”

Professor Clegg said the investment in the server room was vital to ensure the University had a robust IT infrastructure that was fit for purpose.

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“Almost every aspect of our business, from teaching to research and administration, is heavily reliant on information technology. The server room was completely out-of-date and had been designed for another era but had been pushed to the limit by the growth and demand for IT services. We simply couldn’t continue to operate in that environment.”

The new server room includes the latest UPS technology, a diesel generator, new and improved air conditioning, the latest in environmental monitoring technology and the best gas flood protection, early smoke detection and a fire prevention system, complete recabling and seismic strengthening of the walls and ceiling.

ENDS

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