IBM has completed a new government data center for an administrative area in Scotland, built inside a refurbished historical landmark. New data center that supports IT functions of the Dumfries and Galloway Council is anticipated to reduce the infrastructure's energy use and cut cost by about £20,000 per year.

The council and the contractor are expecting the savings to be realized mainly by airside economization technology designed into the data center. The facility is expected to be able to use free cooling for 50% of the year, IBM said, leading to an energy-use reduction of 20% to 30%.

Graeme Mcllorum, the council's technology services manager, said getting the new facility up and running posed a number of challenges, not the least of which was ensuring that the historical building is adequately preserved.

"In addition to a number of administrative applications, the data center also has to run our call center and other critical council systems, providing care to vulnerable people around the clock, as we upgraded the data center," he said.

"As a result, we needed a solution that would help optimize availability and minimize the risk of disruption throughout the project, and this is what IBM offered."

The new 1,000-sq-ft data center replaces an older facility, which is now used for backup and recovery. The room, rated at 144kW total, can hold about 25 racks, providing 4kW to 5kW per rack.

IBM designed the new room to support the council's existing infrastructure but ensured that the facility is scalable. Its modular design allows for power and cooling components to be added to expand capacity to support more equipment as needed.

The existing IT gear consists mainly of IBM System x servers and IBM System Storage Technology.

The new data center was a component of a reorganization project the council has been undertaking. Another part of it was consolidation of 325 servers down to 75 and virtualizing the infrastructure.

IBM IT services manager Caroline Miscio said the facility would create a less-than-five-year return on investment for the council. Such ROI is part of the council's overall investment criteria.