SSA puts out the call for a private storage cloud
Connecting state and local government leaders
The Social Security Administration is seeking information on how a private cloud might be used to provide an enterprise disk storage infrastructure for the entire agency's data storage needs.
The Social Security Administration is seeking information on how a private cloud might be used to provide an enterprise disk storage infrastructure for the entire agency’s data storage needs.
A private storage cloud should have “the ability to house multi-tenants, the ability to isolate data from management and performance perspectives, and the ability to report on storage usage by application,” according to a request for information released by SSA officials.
Responses should place emphasis on how replication solutions would apply in SSA’s environment, which has enterprise applications spread across a variety of computer operating systems, including Hewlett Packard Unix, IBM mainframes, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and VMware operating environments. SSA attached a description of the agency’s infrastructure along with the RFI.
Replication technology duplicates stored or archived data in real time over a storage area network (SAN). Other terms for this type of service include file replication, data replication and remote storage replication.
SSA officials want to know how vendors’ replication works in a multivendor environment, how they approach changing an existing replicated environment, what are the limits and capabilities of their replication techniques (currently and in the future), as well as how their hardware provides de-duplication replication.
Other topics of interest include support for clustered servers, high-performance enterprise and departmental storage subsystems, open systems storage connectivity options, and redundant components.
Interested sources that believe they have the ability to provide the items and perform the services listed by SSA should submit a detailed statement of their capabilities in writing to Scott Marko, contract specialist. Responses must be sent via e-mail to Scott.Marko@ssa.gov. SSA-RFI-12-1012 should be referenced in the e-mail subject line. No telephone responses will be accepted. Responses must be received by 5 p.m. EST Jan. 25, 2012.