Sometimes, state and local governments find advantages in holding data in place; and sometimes, agencies seek to pool data in a central location. Several recent IT trends show how distributed or centralized compute and storage configurations may support agencies in achieving their goals.
For example, some smart cities embrace distributed computing power around the municipality as a means to collect data in place until necessary for a task or application. Police surveillance cameras might collect and store information at the edge, where officials may retrieve it in response to a crime report or investigation. Edge computing focuses the power of data collection and storage at points where it is needed — and it holds data at those points until retrieved.
StateTech saw such a system in action last year when we visited Opelika, Ala., to see its Cisco Long Range Wireless Area Network (LoRaWAN) at work. On a larger scale in Virginia Beach, Va., the CIO is deploying Dell EMC converged infrastructure to position compact compute and storage resources where required around the city.
State and Local Governments Pool Data to Achieve Their Goals
In Wisconsin, Milwaukee County has found a different advantage in hyperconvergence: speed. Its Cisco HyperFlex solution provides fast access to information in its databases. Here, the government requires centralized storage capabilities to meet its needs.
Centralization is top of mind for states like Nebraska and Ohio, which have consolidated their state data centers. Nebraska established a private cloud for efficiencies with its cities and counties, and also for effective disaster recovery. Ohio sought consolidation to improve data sharing and analytics and thus foster innovation in the state.
For these governments, pooling data is vital to fulfilling their goals. And such scenarios are often in play when states and cities collect data over a wide area to determine what citizen services to deliver and how to deliver them. When planning a network configuration, understanding these capabilities will go a long way toward knowing how best to deploy IT resources.
