Decision ref
0024 2025/26
Decision date
30/07/2025
Portfolio
People, Performance and IT
Wards
None
Title
Virtualised Infrastructure Replacement
Summary
The Council is currently reviewing its virtual infrastructure (VMWare) which has been in place for excess of 19 years. This platform has served us well, but we now need to review, replace, modernise and transform it.
Purpose
This review has taken into consideration all offerings and how they will best align to the Councils current strategic direction and budget concerns.
Background
The Council is currently reviewing its virtual infrastructure (VMWare) which has been in place for excess of 19 years. This platform has served us well, but we now need to review, replace, modernise and transform it.
The current estate came into effect in 2006 with VMWare 2.5, we moved up to v4.0 in 2011 and then continued the journey in 2016 where upgrade to v7.0. The takeover of VMWare by Broadcom, in addition to the now aged software and end of life hardware, means it is no longer possible to renew the license model as we have in previous years.
Last year (August 2024), ICT & Digital Delivery embarked on a full review for of the current estate and sought cabinet approval to review option available with the view to replace the platform. The business case was agreed by CAIG, so there is funding earmarked for the replacement. We have engaged with market leading vendors to ensure all options have been considered. This reports out lines the options reviewed and gives recommendations of how to proceed.
Conclusion
The NUTANIX solution for 3 years would be best fit at this current time for us based on, cost, technology, duration and format. This replacement for 3 years would see us benefiting from an upfront one-off capital cost, and then annually review workloads to assess validity to move to PaaS (platform as a Service) or SaaS (software as a Service).
The next 3 years are a transformational time for ICT within the organisation as we see more services moving to cloud with Revenues and Benefits and Leisure being just two to name. It is critical we don’t enable a bloated and costly solution and that leaves us tied into technology unnecessarily. This option will allow is to stay lean and agile and in a prime position to adapt accordingly. The scheme will be funded by capital receipts set aside for essential capital works. CAIG have approved a business case for this investment.
The Nutanix has an installation and training costs which has been reduced by the Nutanix Gold partner from £145k to £20k, this £20k will be paid for from the ICT & Digital training budget based on a £20k surplus carried forward from last year, this therefore results in an overall saving of £48k based on the increased VMWare cost of £401k, even when installation and training is included.
Risk Implications
Doing nothing will either cause unnecessary expense to the Council or have a operational impact with non supported / licenced infrastructure.
Measures to Redress Risk
Implement the new service.
Declarations Of Interest
None
Equality Impact Assessment
Download
More information
Please contact John Sharples on 01744 676514
