The Council works in Scotland third largest region spread over 2,380 square miles with an estimated population of 148,030 - or 60 people per square mile compared with a Scottish average of 168.

People live mainly in small communities of 4,000 or less or in the countryside. The biggest town is Dumfries with an estimated population of 37,110. 

The new data centre is situated within the Crichton estate which dates from 1834.

Previously housing Crichton Royal Hospital  the estate has developed into an outstanding conservation estate and, because of the national importance of the buildings and grounds, in 1995 Dumfries and Galloway Council bought most of the estate with view to protecting it for the nation and turning it to productive new uses to benefit the local community.

It was leased to the Crichton Trust and since then the conservation estate has been redeveloped by the Trust’s subsidiary, The Crichton Development Company which includes the Crichton University Campus includes the University of the West of Scotland, University of Glasgow,  Open University and the Scottish Agricultural College.

The new Data Centre location is a refurbished Category C listed historical landmark in Dumfries, Scotland. For over half of the year, the new data centre uses outside air for cooling (‘free cooling’), to help to cut energy consumption and costs.

IBM helped to streamline costs throughout the project by implementing a modular approach to growth. Specifically, IBM designed the initial room configuration to support the Council's existing infrastructure.

In an Energy Reduction In Circuit cooling (ERIC) approach, as the equipment is added and as power and cooling requirements increase, the Council can, little by little, add components as needed.

The new data centre room is 94m2 and can hold some 25 racks. Rated at 160kVa, or 144kw, it works out to an average of 4-5kW per rack with infrastructure consisting mainly of IBM System X servers and IBM System Storage technology. 



Dumfries and Galloway Technology Services manager, Graeme Mcllorum said: “The new site posed a number of challenges for us, including the need to install the entire infrastructure necessary to support the new data centre whilst ensuring the preservation of the listed site.

"In addition to a number of administrative applications, the data centre also has to run our Call Centre and other critical Council systems, providing care to vulnerable people around the clock, as we upgraded the data centre.

"As a result, we needed a solution that would help optimise availability and minimise the risk of disruption throughout the project. This is what IBM offered.” 



“We worked closely with the Council to meet its needs for this project, both in terms of green initiatives and return on investment," adds Caroline Miscio, IT Services Manager, IBM. "The ability to cool the data centre with outside air for 6 months of the year helps to reduce energy consumption and save money.

"The overall solution also meets the Council’s investment criteria by delivering a return on investment in less than five years. The Council now has a resilient, energy efficient data centre designed to meet its needs for the next ten years.”



"The new data centre was an essential component of a larger re-organisation project by the Council, which also included consolidating 325 servers across the region down to 75 and virtualising the Council’s hardware infrastructure. The former data centre is now used for back-up and recovery to further increase business resiliency.

"Other Council initiatives have also benefited as the implementation of our new data centre has acted as a catalyst, as along with a new MPLS network, it has allowed planned deployment of many new and improved ICT services, such as Video conferencing and Voice over IP telephony to offices across the region. "

Footnote: Love your geese
Migrating geese and swans are now back in Dumfries & Galloway.
The Wild Goose Chase March 2011 events will soon be starting with opportunities to visit the best goose sites in Dumfries and Galloway. We have added a dawn climb up Criffell so that you can see the geese flying along the Solway below you, while the sun rises.

Before the events in March there is an extra opportunity for everyone to chase our geese.  Dumfries and Galloway Council Ranger Service and RSPB have provided you with three early opportunities to take part in a "spot the goose" competition.  If you are in Wigtown, Newton Stewart or Stranraer you might spot our geese in the towns' windows. 

There are 10 in each town.  If you do 'spot the goose' and return our entry form you can win a copy of Bill Oddie's book 'How to Watch Wildlife'.  A winner from each town will be picked out during February and March, so get spotting, entry forms can be collected from the town's library and returned to them. You can also find leaflets in participating shops.

If you would like to know more about the Wild Goose Chase March 2011 events then please look out for a leaflet or contact Elizabeth Tindal, Dumfries and Galloway Council Ranger at Rangers@dumgal.gov.uk or 01988 402401.