OUR VISION

A data centre is a dedicated space where organisations keep and operate the majority of the ICT infrastructure that supports business requirements. This can include servers that run application software, processing data and storage equipment to store content.

Data centres come in all shapes and sizes; from a simple rack of equipment to a computer room full of cabinets. It all depends on the scale of the operation.

Prior to April 2013, the ten Primary Care Trusts in Greater Manchester were responsible for managing, storing and housing data in a number of data centres - 17 in total.

When commissioning arrangements changed on April 1, 2013 Greater Manchester Commissioning Support Unit (GMCSU) became responsible for these data centres on behalf of the 12 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in Greater Manchester.

GMCSU is responsible for providing and managing data storage solutions for CCGs clients. This means ensuring that all electronic systems and associated data are hosted in a secure environment and can be backed up effectively.

Following a review of the 17 data centres, which were housed in a variety of locations and settings across Greater Manchester, GMCSU’s Information Management and Technology team took the strategic decision to centralise and improve data storage.

This involved developing a brand new data centre, which would use up-to-date technology and bring significant benefits to CCGs.

A major programme of work was launched in November 2013, known as the data centre migration project. This involves decommissioning the existing 17 data centres and transferring the data to a brand new data centre housed in one location.

The new data centre, located in Wigan, has two data halls each with its own power supply, back-up generator, NHS N3 link, internet link and diesel tank. So should any of these items have a problem causing one hall to fail, the other can take over and keep services online.

Work to transfer the data centres is expected to be completed in February 2015. Salford CCG is the first organisation to have data moved across to the new data centre.

This work programme is closely aligned with another of GMCSU’s major IT infrastructure transformation project, which involves upgrading the computer network across Greater Manchester.

Improving the way that data is housed and stored will bring about a number of significant benefits for CCGs:

Increased resilience
Having two data halls running simultaneously means that in the event that one fails, the other will kick in almost immediately, providing increased resilience.

Additional security
The new data centre is housed in an unmarked building, with CCTV, floodlights, access controls and 24 hour security.

Improved back up
The new data centre offers improved back up times - it will restore systems much quicker than previous arrangements and can reach back further from an earlier time period. This has a direct impact on operational business continuity, allowing employees to recover saved work and reducing downtime.

Higher availability
The data centre has more capacity for data processing and storage, so rather than having to add a physical server for more processing power, one can be added “virtually”. No more waiting for order processing and delivery. Using the same approach, more data can be stored in the same physical space. 

Reduced overheads
Hosting servers in one place rather than on separate sites will enable CCGs to downsize their office environment and reduce associated running costs for air conditioning, fire proofing and security measures.