Issue - meetings

To approve the replacement of ICT storage and backup target infrastructure as per Option 2 of the Report  and give delegated power to the Group Head of Commissioning and Transformation to appoint a supplier once all the prices have been returned.

Alistair Corkish, ICT Manager, advised that the Storage Area Network (SAN) and back-up devices were past their end of shelf life and required replacement.  A 12 month extension to the support contract was in place until April 2022 but with a lower level of support.   Alternative replacement options had been explored, but moving to the Cloud was significantly more expensive and an on premise solution was considered the most cost-effective.

The Committee sought reassurance that the current system was as secure as possible and was advised that the devices were very secure.  Any new system would not be top of the range but considered a good standard.

The IT team were thanked for the help and support they provided to members.

Alternative options considered and rejected by the Committee:

1.    To do nothing

2.    Move the backend infrastructure to the Cloud.

3.    Relocate the hardware estate to a third-party data centre

4.    VDI Cloud Offering

5.    Software as a Service (SaaS) solution

The Committee resolved to approve the replacement of the ICT Storage as per the preferred option and backup target infrastructure and gave delegated power to the Group Head of Commissioning and Transformation to appoint a supplier once all the prices have been returned.

Reason for decision:

The Storage Area Network (SAN) and backup target devices are approaching 6 years old. The support and maintenance had already been extended for 12 months until April 2022. The devices are past end of life.