(Austin, TX)  —  Texas lawmakers are looking into an upgrade of the way the state stores its mountains of data.

The state Legislature created two data centers in 2005, located in Austin and San Angelo, to store sensitive Texas data, including education and health records.  Since that time, the cost of operating the centers has risen sharply, so the state is considering turning to the “cloud,” run by private tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon.

Supporters of the idea say outsourcing data management could save millions of taxpayer dollars.