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"We are working with IBM to significantly reduce the complexity of our infrastructure, improve data center operations and increase service delivery for state agencies and the constituents they serve," Stu Davis, State of Ohio's Chief Information Officer said. "This is a foundational component of Ohio's IT Optimization efforts that will result in savings and culminate in the consolidation of the state's IT assets into a primary state data center. This provides agencies with services they require and ensures we are spending taxpayers' dollars once."

The SOCC includes four floors and more than 350,000 square feet of space.  It houses infrastructure for several State agencies that support more than 1,600 applications executing on over 2,700 servers in a complex network environment via an annual $108 million budget for these resources.  By working with IBM, the State will be able to focus on meeting application demands that underpin the services it provides to the citizens of Ohio.  The program will also lay the groundwork for future opportunities including the State's drive toward private, secure cloud computing.

Highlights of the work with IBM include:

• Remediating power and cooling capabilities in the State's facility in Columbus
• Migrating agency related infrastructure and application workloads within the facility
• Implementing operating model improvements to deploy ITIL-based service management
• Ongoing services in a co-managed arrangement with State staff

"Many of our clients have looked to IBM to assist them in identifying ways of reducing their overall technology footprint, while improving their ability to serve their stakeholders," Kevin Hill, IBM Client Executive for Ohio said. "The approach the State of Ohio is taking will not only address the State's need to reduce costs, but it will also provide its workers and all Ohioans with the resources they deserve thorough a unique collaboration that  is based on leveraging the best that our two organizations can offer."

The State's cloud computing environment will be designed to provide a secure, high-performance and dependable foundation for computing, while costing the State less than its current infrastructure. The goal of the State's IT consolidation is to substantially reduce IT infrastructure services spend, and reallocate those funds to applications and services that support the citizens and businesses of Ohio.

About IBM
More information on IBM can be found at:
IBM Smarter Government http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/government/ideas/index.html
IBM SmartCloud Solutions www.ibm.com/SaaS

Contact: Scott Cook
IBM Communications
Scotty@us.ibm.com
1.312.351.2092

SOURCE IBM