HONOLULU – After seven years of progress towards upgrading its technology infrastructure, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (HIDOE) opened its second data center at Hoʻokele Elementary School earlier this month. This marks an important milestone in HIDOE's Converge Infrastructure initiative, which is focused on consolidating the information technology (IT) equipment and services in order to streamline management and support statewide.
"Prior to the opening of these data centers, our IT equipment and services were scattered throughout various locations making management and recovery efforts difficult," said Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. "Thanks to the work done through this initiative and legislative support, we have consolidated and enhanced our resources to meet the increasing connectivity demands in our schools."
Planning for the initiative started in 2010 with the department's offices of Information Technology Services and School Facilities and Support Services. In Spring 2015, the first data center opened at the former Queen Liliʻuokalani Elementary School in Kaimukī, which now houses department facilities and technology offices. The center is the primary production site with the new center at Hoʻokele serving as the back up and recovery site.
"During the planning process we put a lot of effort into the design of these centers. We incorporated energy efficient strategies and leveraged software that will provide additional flexibility for our systems that will allow us to adjust based on varying demand through the year," added Clyde Sonobe, assistant superintendent and chief information officer.
The Hoʻokele center will eventually house disaster recovery services for HIDOE's critical applications and systems.
Earlier this year, HIDOE was recognized as the top ranked school district in K-12 broadband connectivity according to the 2016 State of the States annual report released by Education Superhighway, an advocacy group dedicated to upgrading Internet infrastructure in K-12 public schools. For more information about this report, click here.
