Cleveland Police IT teams have had an ongoing issue with the SAN (Storage Area Network) in Middlesbrough HQ.
This has caused some significant challenges to recover and impacted on operational services including ANPR.
The hardware repair of the SAN was completed through the existing support contract. Force data is now being restored.
There was a planned upgrade of the enclosures on this SAN included in the current Capital Programme (Capital Scheme 330092.) However, considering recent hardware failures, the supplier has now proposed two options:-
- The Force continue with the planned upgrade. It will replace some of the aging technology. This would leave the Force with concerns over the ongoing reliability of the remaining, aging components
- The Force replaces the whole SAN with the latest technology and address any concerns over the reliability of the remaining aging technology
Following significant discussions and negotiations with the supplier, the supplier has provided a competitive quote for a new SAN.
Having considered all options, the force believes this is the best way forward. This is, the force would rather invest cash in a new SAN rather than upgrade.
This would alleviate the need to spend additional Capital funds on upgrading or replacing the unit at a later date when the Technology nears its ‘end of life’.
The total cost of the new SAN hardware is £78k. There is £60k Capital already approved against the Capital Scheme ‘M8 Enclosure Upgrade’ 330092 (plus £4k revenue consequences).
The implications of ageing hardware have been highlighted over the last two weeks. During this time, there was significant disruption due to the failure of components linked to hardware reaching ‘end of life’.
There is some urgency around this decision as there is concern over the reliability of the system and the risk to Police Operations if it was to fail completely.
Based on a competitive quote, the recommendation is to replace the whole SAN and place the order in the next 5 days.
Decision 63. Replacement of Storage Area Network (SAN) at Cleveland Police (application, 261kB)