Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 579: To ask the Minister for Health 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. [35515/11]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 580: To ask the Minister for Health 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. [35531/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 579 and 580 together.

Department currently provides shared ICT services to the Department of Health, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Adoption Authority of Ireland, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and the Office of the Disability Appeals Officer. In total there are 60 operational servers providing a range of ICT services with a total disk capacity of approximately 68 TB (terabytes) making the average server capacity approximately 1.13 TB. None of these servers are leased.

At point of purchase, the price includes a 3 year warranty as standard. Department's policy is to extend warranties and operate servers for a minimum of 5 years where feasible, to achieve better value for money. Due to the variety of server hardware and the fact that they are covered under a global ICT equipment support contract, it is not possible to accurately calculate specific costs per server. Department is also investigating the possibilities of implementing virtualised server environments as a further cost reduction measure. All its server hardware is purchased by way of public procurement exercises.

The requested details in relation to the agencies under my Department's aegis are not readily available as it is an operational matter for the agencies themselves and my Department does not routinely compile or hold this information. I am referring the Deputy's questions to the relevant agencies including the Health Service Executive for their attention and direct reply to the Deputy.