Marines Plan Huge Data Center Consolidation

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is planning a major data center consolidation that will reduce its IT infrastructure from 300 data centers worldwide down to just 30 facilities. The Marines will use software from VMware (VMW) to virtualize its operations across its data centers and mobile command units around the globe, resulting in better disaster recovery and more flexible operations.

The USMC said VMware's Infrastructure platform provided "the robust event recovery necessary to sustain successful military operations around the world." The Marines also intend to use VMware ACE to create "secure, virtualized desktops that can be carried on a USB thumb drive and deployed on any PC, enabling mobile combat units to access computing environments on the fly and from any location."

"The Marines are well-positioned to tackle the challenges of 21st century military operations," said Aileen Black, Vice President of VMware's Federal Sales Division. "We look forward to continuing our work with the Marine Corps as it rolls out a sophisticated infrastructure virtualization strategy."