When moving into new offices recently, the trust entered into contracts with manufacturers Dell and APC which has allowed them to review several key areas and reduce spending.

 

Mark Austin, associate director of information management and technology at the trust, said: “The move was a great opportunity to identify potential savings and design an innovative, energy-efficient data centre from the ground up. We were on a tight deadline to complete the project and because of out relationship with Dell, we knew they could help us create a streamlined high density infrastructure that would be scalable and energy efficient. It was critical the new centre met the environmental objectives set out by the Government and aimed at reducing the NHS’s overall carbon emissions.”

 

Under the contract Dell and APC worked together to build a customised, high density infrastructure composed of rack-mounted blade servers and cooling solutions. The PCT installed Dell PowerEdge M600 blade servers, which are specially designed for high-density environments and are one of the most energy efficient on the market. In addition, a VMware virtualised environment resulted in a 10% consolidation of physical servers, immediately reducing the footprint of the installation and cutting energy costs.

 

“The implementation of this technology will reduce our carbon footprint by approximately 12 tonnes a year, which is equivalent to the output of 39 cars”

The individually cooled server racks and enclosures, which were installed by APC, eliminate the need for bulky air conditioning in the data centre. The APC Environmental Monitoring Unit ensures temperature stability within each rack and gives early warning of conditions that may lead to equipment failure.

 

Austin said: “The implementation of this technology will reduce our carbon footprint by approximately 12 tonnes a year, which is equivalent to the output of 39 cars. The new data centre will help us to achieve our environmental goals and most importantly the money saved will be used to improve patient care. This type of solution is rare within the NHS and I would definitely recommend it to anyone with a data centre.”

“Northamptonshire’s approach is a prime example of how choosing the right customised IT environment can help cut costs, meet environmental goals and ultimately benefit patient care”

      

Ian Campbell, director of Dell’s public sector division, added: “Local PCTs like Northamptonshire are constantly undergoing challenges to fulfil new legislation and improve services. Northamptonshire’s approach is a prime example of how choosing the right customised IT environment can help cut costs, meet environmental goals and ultimately benefit patient care.”

The solution is backed up by Dell Mission Critical Pro Support that guarentees on-site response to any IT issues within four hours.