News

55th CS saves Offutt thousands

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Rachel Hammes
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
Members of the 55th Communications Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base were honored at a recent commander's call for saving the wing $37,500 on annual energy costs.

The 55th Wing Innovation Certificate of Recognition was given to the squadron after it dismantled more than 60 servers no longer needed at Offutt.

"They had been here for longer than I've been here - I've been here four going on five years," said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Marquez Young, a messaging technician with the squadron. "They were pretty much just outdated, and all of their functions had been replaced. Each server is supposed to have a POC, and contacting them throughout the years is difficult because they change hands so often."

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Nathan Hanmer, 55th CS Network Control Center NCO-in-charge, spearheaded the efforts to cut costs.

"It's a process of turning it off, waiting to make sure no one comes back and says, 'No, I really needed that!'" he said. "Then we actually disconnect it all, take it off the racks and turn it in. From all of that you can see the power consumption before, and it's much lower now."

The plan to remove extra servers was brought about after a change of location was proposed.

"We have another project coming up called the Network Control Center consolidation," Hanmer said. "We're moving in these new racks and we're possibly switching facilities. So obviously if you're moving facilities you don't want to bring servers you no longer need - it's a waste of time and money. With those projects, the way forward was to do this."

By cutting down on energy costs, the squadron hoped to save the Air Force both money and time, allowing those resources to be better applied elsewhere.

"Instead of having these antiquated systems because we can't afford new ones, this lets the Air Force buy newer systems," Hanmer said. "We can spend their money more wisely and actually get the things we need. Instead of wasting energy on things that aren't even being used, we can use the money to buy much-needed office supplies, or newer mission systems to make us more effective."

The team was surprised to be recognized at the commander's call, as they had not been aware they had even been nominated for the award.

"It seemed like an everyday part of the job on our end - we've taken down servers before," Young said. "This is the first time it's been recognized. To hear that we actually made more of an impact than we thought we did makes it worthwhile."