Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 221: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of computer servers that are leased by his Department and each State agency under the aegis of his Department; and the amount of capacity on each server; the cost of maintaining these servers and the steps being taken to reduce this cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35516/11]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of computer servers that are owned by his Department and each State agency under his aegis; the amount of capacity on each server; the cost of maintaining these servers; the steps being taken to reduce this cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35532/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 221 and 222 together.

My Department does not lease computer servers. The current number of servers owned by and in operation in my Department and its Offices is 210 with an average of 4GB memory per server. The disk capacity of each server varies depending on the application involved and the data stored by users of each application and this can change depending on business requirements. The approximate total capacity of the servers is 80 terabytes.

It should be noted that storage capacity is just one of a number of determinants of server performance, and that the relative importance of each of these determinants is dependent on the use to which the server is put. There are no ongoing maintenance costs associated with these servers; the servers are supplied with a five year break fix warranty which is embedded in the initial capital outlay. The ICT Unit in my Department has informed me that it is in the early planning stage for the formulation of a server consolidation and virtualization strategy.

Server specifications for servers owned by the agencies under the aegis of my Department are day-to-day operational matters for the agencies involved and not ones in which I have any function. However, I am referring the specific question to each of the Agencies under my remit with a request to respond to you directly.