CIC migrates to the HAB 54 Datacenter

CIC migrates to the HAB 54 Datacenter

The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) is a consortium of the Big Ten member universities plus the University of Chicago. CIC members collaborate to expand research, save money, and increase opportunities for students, faculty, and staff.

For 8 years, the CIC servers were housed in our off-campus office in a closet. The server "room" was not well suited for technical equipment – the temperature was always at least 85 degrees, and because of the heat, the door could not be closed to muffle the typical noise generated by the servers. This room also faced an office and that "lucky" person would often have to close her door due to the noise and the heat. In addition to this set-up, we also had some power outages in recent years that lasted for more than an hour, taking down the collaboration services we offer to our members.

We saw the opportunity to move to the Datacenter and quickly started the process. We saw many advantages to the Datacenter, including 24 hour security and monitoring, direct connection to the campus network, and a much cooler environment for the servers. The migration process was pretty easy with a couple of meetings with the DCSS personnel and Technology Services at Illinois along with a nice checklist to follow. On the day of the move, the Datacenter staff helped us get back up and running in just a few hours. It was amazing to walk back into that part of the office where the servers once were and hear....nothing.

We have since reclaimed that space where the servers were, the office across the hall will now be much more useable, and the power feed to the servers more reliable. We will also be lowering our cooling costs and power consumption. The servers are now running more than 20 degrees cooler, which will extend their life. Would I do this move again? Definitely! It is a no brainer!

For more information, please contact me Timothy Newcomb.