The US government’s bid to cut its data center space has taken another step forward: the US Social Security Administration (SSA) is closing a data center in Baltimore and opening a new one two-thirds the size.

The new National Support Center (NSC) near Frederick, Maryland, replaces a 34-year-old building at SSA's Baltimore-area headquarters, approximately 40 miles away. The new build stands at 300,000 sq ft and is about 35 percent smaller than the building it replaces. It will use about 30 percent less electricity than a typical data center, according to officials.

Smaller data centers are a priority for the Federal government, which hopes to close nearly half (44 percent) of them by the end of 2015 under the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI). So far under the initiative US government agencies have save more than US$1bn through closing small data centers.

According to the SSA the state-of-the-art data center is more modern and energy efficient with enhanced disaster recovery capabilities and will meet its anticipated IT workloads for at least the next 20 years. The agency’s computers are partially powered by four acres of solar panels.

SSA’s Maryland data center will maintain demographic, wage and benefit information on almost every American and is funded by US$500m in economic stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Social Security acting commissioner Carolyn Colvin said the data housed in the NSC is critical to the agency’s day-to-day operations and is essential to maintaining its computer systems and electronic services.

“Social Security has always been known as a 'can-do' agency with world-class customer service; this new facility allows us to meet the growing demands of the millions of individuals who count on us each and every day," Colvin said.