Education network to consolidate datacentres

Universities currently have separate datacentres

The UK education network Janet is considering consolidating datacentres across the higher education sector.

Janet has issued a request for information from suppliers with a view to taking action over the next two years.

All further- and higher-education organisations and Research Councils in the UK are connected to Janet, but until now computing power has resided in respective institutions.

But a number of factors are pressuring Janet to review this strategy, according to Dan Perry, head of strategic business at Janet.

"The education and research sectors already benefit from the Janet network to provide a high capacity, reliable, resilient enabling solution," he said "Now, in collaboration with stakeholders and sector and industry representatives, the need for a sector-wide shared datacentre strategy is clear."

Janet is currently carrying out a survey of institutions to get a better idea of what users might need from such a solution.

A strategy will be developed over the next three months and Janet is actively seeking the views of stakeholders and suppliers.