Nationwide has teamed with IT firm Unisys to virtualise 500 servers at its data centre in a project expected to save the UK building society over £8 million.
Nationwide's data centre transformation programme is designed to improve IT architecture while cutting operational and energy cots. The firm says that by removing old hardware, improving service continuity, simplifying disaster recovery and increasing hardware utilisation through server virtualisation, it will make significant savings.
To date, the company has seen a twelve to one reduction in the number of physical servers, saving space and shrinking its carbon footprint through a reduction in power and air-conditioning usage.
Peter Stafford, director, IT, Nationwide, says: "This data centre program will provide Nationwide with a world-class server infrastructure - allowing us to respond to changing business needs more quickly and efficiently."
Unisys has provided consultancy services for the project, assessing, planning, executing and testing the server virtualisation.
Rob Chapman, MD, UK, Middle East and Africa, Unisys, adds: "In the current challenging economy, driving cost savings and improving service continuity are absolutely crucial for our customers. Innovative IT optimisation initiatives such as Nationwide's data centre transformation programme enable us to make a real difference to our customers' bottom line."