The government has signed a nearly $1 million five-year contract with EVERTEC for secure, off-island, cloud-based data storage the Bureau of Information Technology has dubbed "Datacenter in a Box," according to Government House.
The agreement establishes a "private cloud" in the territory using the Vblock system, a new technology for integrating the infrastructure in data centers. Made by VCE, the Vblock system has racks containing data center components with "converged architecture," meaning they are preconfigured, with predictable cooling, power, weight and other needs, simplifying scaling them up and down and customizing them.
The project costs roughly $982,000 to be paid over a five-year period.
This new system will be the foundation of the territory’s disaster recovery and business continuity plan because agencies will be able to replicate or backup their data to this system, which is them safely and securely replicated outside the territory, according to Government House.
With this and other technology, BIT is now capable of securely and reliably providing fundamental, consolidated virtualized IT services including web hosting and virtual servers, according to Government House.
“Our goal is to increase the efficiency of government operations, decrease the cost of government operations while enhancing the ability of agencies to generate revenues, improve government employee engagement, improve citizen engagement and, in general, improve the quality of life for the residents and visitors of Virgin Islands,” BIT Director Reuben Molloy said in a statement.
