To seek agreement to draw down the £372,000 of funds identified and approved in the 2023/24 capital budget (and rolled over to the 2024/2025 budget) to replace ageing Storage Area Network (SAN) equipment at Herefordshire Archives and Record Centre (HARC) with manufacturer supported equipment where security patches will be issued in line with emerging vulnerabilities and Cyber Security threats.

That:

a) Draw down of funds in the 2024/25 capital budget (£372k) to replace ageing SAN (Storage Area Network) equipment at HARC;

b) Authority be delegated to the Herefordshire Council Head of ICT and Digital to take all operational decisions to implement the above recommendation.

1.         Herefordshire Council’s Data Storage Area Network equipment is held at HARC, within a Data Centre, and was installed in 2016 as part of the reconfiguration of the Data Centre environments. The solution is coming to the end of manufacturer support in August 2024. This means that no further security patches will be developed by the manufacturer for this solution.

2.         SAN is a network of storage devices (which store our data within our network) that can be accessed by multiple servers or computers, providing a shared pool of storage space.

3.         Replacement SAN equipment will include the manufacturers support contract which will:

a)    Ensure equipment is actively supported by the supplier, with particular emphasis on vulnerability patches;

b)    Provide equipment that meets the current compatibility and support requirements for the infrastructure, including additional overhead to mitigate against data growth throughout the first five years of operation;

c)    Provide support and maintenance contract with the manufacturer or partner;

d)    Enable decommission and disposal of outgoing equipment in line with the council’s security and environmental policies;

e)    Reduces risk for potential loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability of council key data due to cyber-attack or catastrophic hardware failure;

f)     Protects the council’s data and service delivery obligations through fit for purpose equipment;

g)    Provides operational efficiencies with opportunity for reduced power consumption and improved performance due to technology advancement in modern solutions.

4.            Hoople Limited will be commissioned to complete the work on behalf of the council as the IT support provider to the council.

5.            Award of contract and implementation for the replacement hardware and ongoing support and maintenance following a compliant procurement process. Procurement will be through an approved Local Government Procurement Framework (Crown Commercial Services or similar) to ensure that best value is demonstrated.