New state-of-the-art information technology center to provide for University of Hawaii's 21st century digital requirements

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
David Lassner, (808) 956-3501
Information Technology Services
Posted: Nov 20, 2008

HONOLULU — Governor Linda Lingle has released nearly $3.8 million appropriated by the 2008 Hawaii State Legislature to complete the design of the University of Hawaiʻi‘s (UH) new Information Technology Center, which will be located on the UH Mānoa campus and service all 10 university campuses statewide. The new center will provide the university with its first properly designed and supported facility to house all of the IT resources that provide neighbor island and Oʻahu students and campuses with full access to information, communication and distance learning opportunities throughout Hawaiʻi and beyond.

The university‘s current IT capability is spread across nine campus buildings, several of which are scheduled for renovations or replacement in the near future. The university‘s main enterprise servers are located on the ground floor of Keller Hall, which may put them at risk during times of heavy rains as evidenced by the October 2004 flood.

Systems and capabilities serving all 10 UH campuses that will be housed in the new IT Center include the university‘s student information system, financial aid system, online learning system, financial management system, human resources information system, institutional email, institutional web sites, Internet and Internet2 access, and a modern digital communications system. The university also provides Internet access for Hawaii state government.

The new IT center is being designed to remain operable through most disasters and will also house the university‘s first Emergency Situation Room. This will allow UH executive management to take advantage of the building‘s highly available power and communications capability to handle institutional response to disasters from a centralized location.

UH Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer David Lassner also noted that "the new IT Center is being designed for sustainability. Moving critical facilities into a single well-designed facility will enable substantial reductions in energy usage while improving reliability." The UH IT Center will be the first data center project in Hawaiʻi designed to meet the requirements of the U.S. Green Building Council‘s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold rating.

Design is scheduled to be completed in September 2009. Project construction is currently scheduled to begin in January 2010 and be completed in July 2011.