Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Information Systems  

TO:	Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager Casey Toomay, Budget Manager
FROM:	James Wisdom, Interim Information Systems Director
CC:	David L. Corliss, City Manager Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
DATE:	June 26, 2008
RE:	Follow Up to Commission Questions on Technology Issues

During earlier review of the 2009 budget, City Commissioners requested additional information relating to estimated energy savings and licensing costs associated with server consolidation. 

Information Systems is beginning the VMWare consolidation of servers this year, starting with replacing the servers at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.  Implementing VMWare would be a phased-in approach with costs spread over several years with the total project completing sometime in the 2011 budget.  Some of the savings will vary from year-to-year, but the long-term savings will be significant—at least $30,000 to $40,000 per year after 2011.

The estimated cost to consolidate the servers and provide many disaster prevention and high-availability capabilities will cost approximately $112,000 between 2008 and 2011.  The estimated cost of these server replacements would be $166,000 if we did not implement VMWare, and we would not improve our disaster prevention capabilities. 

Below is a summary of estimated savings:

Electricity:

Estimated 40,000KWH less usage per year with an estimated savings of $1,500 per year

Air-Conditioning:

Estimated operating cost reduction of $1,500 to $1,700 per year

Licensing:

(Estimated savings through 2011)

Windows Server Licenses:  $3,000 to $4,000 per year.

SQL Licenses:  (to be determined—depends on final consolidation possibilities)

iFix SCADA Licenses: $2,600 per year

Backup Licenses: $2,000 per year

Hardware Savings:

Through 2011 it is estimated that we would save $54,000 in hardware costs, but after 2011 the hardware savings would be an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 per year.