Environment Agency aims to double storage capacity

Organisation signs up CA to install new systems over next three years

The Environment Agency (EA) is to double its data storage facilities to help deal with a rapidly increasing number of environmental projects.

The organisation plans to add 200 additional servers to its IT infrastructure over the next three years, doubling storage capacity to 43TB.

‘We have ongoing projects to enhance our flood warning capabilities,’ said Paul Sanderson, IT infrastructure manager at EA. ‘There are also projects looking at water and air quality, fly-tipping and a range of other things, which all require more and more data systems and increased reporting and networking capabilities.’

The organisation has signed a deal with software supplier CA to help implement the new storage systems at 240 sites across England and Wales.

The agency expects to save £43,000 a year in storage costs by switching from a pay-as-you-go licence to CA’s Data Availability Capacity licence.

CA’s BrightStor ARCserve product will be used to automate backing up data from a central location. Emails, databases and other critical information stored on Novell NetWare and Microsoft servers will all be backed up and recoverable.

‘We have 240 sites across England and Wales and this will help to ensure that all information is backed up,’ said Sanderson. ‘It cuts down on manpower time, meaning IT staff can be more productive instead of doing housekeeping tasks.’

CA’s Storage Command Center will provide a web-based reporting tool, to monitor details on data inventory, capacity, data health and protection.

‘It will also provide information about the age of data, so that we can keep control of how much we have stored and what we are not using,’ said Sanderson.

The EA has successfully tested the CA storage management products and expects to have them fully installed by the end of this month.

The agency is also planning to increase its use of Microsoft desktop products, to run alongside Novell applications.