Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

Time	Event
11:30a	Data Center Jobs: Schneider Electric At the Data Center Jobs Board, we have a new job listing  from Schneider Electric, which is seeking a Critical Facility Technician in Santa Clara, California. The Critical Facility Technician is responsible for performing daily/weekly/monthly walk-through of customer facilities in support of data center and office operations, supporting equipment includes but is not limited to: electrical switchgear, diesel generators, HVAC/CRAC systems, UPS systems, PDUs, RPPs, BMS systems, and fire alarm and suppression systems, must be available to work emergency service and shift work as required, providing on-site support of client critical systems infrastructure equipment (i.e. electrical switchgear, standby generators, HVAC and fire detection/suppression systems), and monitoring critical facility equipment operation by conducting facility walkthroughs and system monitoring. To view full details and apply, see job listing details. Are you hiring for your data center? You can list your company’s job openings on the Data Center Jobs Board, and also track new openings via our jobs RSS feed. (Comment on this)
12:30p	The Hidden Costs of System Sprawl Florin Dejeu, director of product management, SEPATON, Inc., has more than 20 years of product management experience, overseeing the development of products that address the information management needs of large enterprises with emphasis on storage, archiving, classification, HSM and data protection solutions. FLORIN DEJEU SEPATON While data center managers have grown accustomed to rapid data growth, few could have anticipated the unprecedented data growth and increased complexity that has overwhelmed many data center backup environments in the past few years. According to industry analysts, data in large enterprises is growing at 40-60 percent compounded annually. Data growth is fueled by the proliferation of new business applications, the introduction of Big Data analytics, the increased use of mobile devices and tablets in the work place, and the increased use of large databases to run core company functions (ERP, payroll, HR, production management). Companies are not only creating massive volumes of data, they are also under pressure to meet increasingly stringent and complex requirements for protecting and managing that data. For example, they have to back it up in shorter times, retain it for longer periods of time, encrypt it without slowing backup performance, replicate it efficiently, and restore it quickly. Until recently, many enterprise data managers responded to data growth by simply adding disk-based backup targets. The most common type of disk-based backup target provided inline data de-duplication and a reasonable level of performance and capacity to accommodate the increased data volume. However, these systems are simply not designed for today’s massive data volumes or fast data growth because they lack two critical capabilities: they do not scale and they do not de-duplicate enterprise backup data efficiently. As a result, for many large enterprise data centers, the “add another system” approach has reached its breaking point. The Hidden Costs of Sprawl – Total Cost of Ownership For many organizations the breaking point for non-scalable systems is the point at which they cannot any longer meet their backup windows. While adding a single system may not seem overly cumbersome, for large enterprise data centers that require several of these systems, it can add unplanned cost, complexity, risk, and administrative time. The hidden costs and total cost of ownership (TCO) impact are significant: Overbuying systems. Companies are forced to add an entire system when they have plenty of capacity but only need more performance or conversely, have performance and need more capacity. Wasting money on capacity. By separating data onto multiple non-scalable systems, these systems cannot de-duplicate globally, reducing the efficiency of their capacity optimization. Wasted IT admin time. To add a new non-scalable backup system, IT admins have to divide the existing backup(s) onto multiple new systems and load balance for optimal utilization a process that becomes more time-consuming and complex with every new system added. Added maintenance cost. Each new system increases the cost of system maintenance by an order of magnitude. Every time a new software or hardware update or upgrade is needed, or standard maintenance is required. Slow backups. Non-scalable systems typically use hash-based, inline de-duplication that slows backup performance over time. They are highly inefficient in database backup environment common in enterprises data centers for two reasons. First, databases often store data in sub-8KB segments that are too small for inline, hash-based deduplication to process efficiently without becoming a bottleneck to backup. Second, they do not support fast multiplexed, multi-streamed database backups – requiring IT staff to choose between fast backups and capacity optimization. Rising data center costs. In simple terms, more systems with less-efficient de-duplication means more rack space, power, cooling, and data center floor space. Less is More for Low TCO In today’s fast-growing enterprise backup environments, consolidating backups onto a single, enterprise-class disk-based backup appliance is proving to be both more cost-efficient and less prone to human error and data loss than the “siloed” approach described above. Backup and recovery appliances are designed specifically to handle the massive data volumes and complex backup requirements of today’s data centers. These purpose built backup appliances (PBBAs) are designed to backup, de-duplicate, replicate, encrypt, and restore large data volumes quickly and cost efficiently. To ensure you choose an enterprise-class backup and recovery appliance, ensure to use the following best practices: Opt for Guaranteed High Performance Understand the performance impact that processing-intensive functions, such as de-duplication, replication, and encryption have on the system. Enterprise-class systems are designed to perform these functions in a way that does not slow performance. Some even offload CPU functions Ensure that any published performance rates are for guaranteed, continuous performance, and not simply the highest rates achievable in a widely varying ingest rate. Grid Scalability is Essential As described above, adding, managing, and using multiple backup systems is not practical or cost-efficient in today’s fast-growing, complex data centers. Enterprise-class backup and recovery systems offer grid scalability, that is, the ability to add performance and/or capacity independently as you need it. This pay-as-you-grow model eliminates over-buying, reduces IT management time, and enables you to store tens of petabytes of data in a single, consolidated backup appliance. Storing data in a single, optimized system has the additional benefits of enabling highly efficient, global de-duplication, and eliminating the need for load balancing and ongoing system-tuning. Ensure Deduplication is Designed for Enterprise Data Centers One of the most effective ways to reduce the cost of backup and recovery is to implement enterprise-class de-duplication. Unlike de-duplication optimized for small-to-medium-business, enterprise de-duplication is designed to enable faster backup performance and better overall capacity requirements. It is also capable of tuning de-duplication to the specific data types for optimal use of CPU, disk, and replication resources. For example they can de-duplicate database data at the byte level for optimal capacity savings or recognize data that will not de-duplicate efficiently (i.e., image data) and back it up without de-duplication. This “tunability” can save enterprises thousands of dollars in savings in capacity and processing costs. Reporting and Dashboards Enable Savings Detailed reporting and dashboards are key to enabling IT administrators to manage more data per person. They automate all disk subsystem management processes and put detailed status information at the administrator’s fingertips. They also provide predictive warning of potential issues enabling administrators to take action before they become urgent. Lowest Total Cost of Ownership For today’s large enterprise backup and recovery environments, the days of adding more and more backup systems are over. The speed of data growth, massive volume of data, and complexity of backup and recovery policies necessitate the use of enterprise-class purpose-built backup appliances. These appliances enable organizations to maintain backup windows by moving massive data volumes to the safety of the backup environment at predictable, fast ingest rates. They also streamline and simplify complexity by consolidating tens of petabytes of stored data onto a single, cost-efficient easy-to-manage system. Industry Perspectives is a content channel at Data Center Knowledge highlighting thought leadership in the data center arena. See our guidelines and submission process for information on participating. View previously published Industry Perspectives in our Knowledge Library. (Comment on this)
3:00p	IBM, HP Power Big Data Analytics With SAP HANA SAP HANA (High Performance Analytics Appliance) is the powerful in-memory database technology from German enterprise software powerhouse SAP. Built from the ground up as a platform to tackle real-time analytics for big data volumes, HANA lets organizations analyze business operations based on a large volume and variety of detailed data in real time. SAP has grown the popular big data platform for sports and entertainment, and its own cloud platform for giving businesses the deployment option to run their mission-critical SAP ERP, SAP CRM and SAP NetWeaver BW powered by SAP HANA. IBM DB2, HANA and SmartCloud Global IT powerhouse IBM has announced new SmartCloud capabilities, including DB2 with BLU Acceleration that can result in as much as 25 times faster reporting and analytics, and SmartCloud availability for SAP’s HANA. BLU Acceleration technology from IBM adds innovative dynamic in-memory analytics to DB2 database software on IBM SmartCloud to help companies and governments tackle big data. IBM’s new SmartCloud offering includes a SAP HANA Appliance on IBM SmartCloud for SAP Applications, hosted on SmartCloud Enterprise+. In addition, a virtual SAP HANA Appliance is now available on IBM SmartCloud Enterprise (SCE) for early stage development and test. “Clients are looking to leverage big data and analytics at the speed of business,” said Jim Comfort, general manager of IBM SmartCloud Services. “Today’s news shows how IBM is delivering mission-critical cloud services to provide essential analytics innovations to business users at the point of impact.” The integrated managed service combining SAP HANA and IBM SmartCloud for SAP Applications helps business leaders acquire the information they need to make decisions quickly, drilling down into critical marketing, sales and supply chain insights. Both the physical and virtual SAP HANA Appliances on SmartCloud are offered on a “bring your own license” (BYOL) model; however, a license can be purchased through IBM when working with IBM Global Business Services. HP and SAP Project Kraken During the SAP SapphireNow event last week HP and SAP announced advancements to a joint initiative, codenamed “Project Kraken,” to improve business processes and mitigate risks for customers. At the event HP and SAP demonstrated a test system, built from years of HP server technology innovations and optimized with the in-memory SAP HANA database for  SAP Business Suite. The prototype system, optimized with 16 Intel Xeon processor E7 family (codenamed Ivy Bridge-EX) CPUs and 12 terabytes of memory, has been engineered specifically for complex, data-intensive workloads. “The combination of our best technologies—SAP HANA with HP Converged Infrastructure—revolutionizes in-memory computing to redefine the speed at which market leaders will soon operate, to speed transactions to a matter of seconds,” said Bill Veghte, chief operating officer, HP. “With the collaboration of HP and SAP, organizations can consolidate online transaction and analytic processing into one place and perform real-time analytics at never-before-imagined speeds, while competitors continue to move data between multiple environments to access meaningful insights at a far slower pace.” (Comment on this)
3:30p	Data Center Jobs: McKinstry Seeking Program Managers At the Data Center Jobs Board, we have two new job listings from McKinstry, which is seeking an Electrical Program Manager and a Mechanical Program Manager in Des Moines, Iowa. The Electrical Program Manager is responsible for the successful management and completion of projects, managing and completing the maintenance activities on the basic electrical systems to ensure system uptime and that the services are in compliance with best practices with the client and McKinstry standards/expectations, the successful and timely completion of assigned projects by utilizing appropriate resources effectively and balancing the customer requirements with the agreed upon strategies of the company, the definition of customer project requirements, and determining and facilitating the usages of resources, internal and external, required for the successful completion of the project. To view full details and apply, see job listing details. The Mechanical Program Manager is responsible for the successful management and completion of projects, managing and completing the maintenance activities on the basic mechanical systems to ensure system uptime, and that the services are in compliance with best practices with the client and McKinstry standards/expectations, the successful and timely completion of assigned projects by utilizing appropriate resources effectively and balancing the customer requirements with the agreed upon strategies of the company, regulating Critical Environment facility management services to prevent business impact and equipment downtime, and establishing objectives and processes required to maintain critical infrastructure at optimum performance. To view full details and apply, see job listing details. Are you hiring for your data center? You can list your company’s job openings on the Data Center Jobs Board, and also track new openings via our jobs RSS feed. (Comment on this)
8:25p	Citrix Synergy Highlights Megatrends of Mobile Workstyles Cloud solutions for mobile workstyles is the theme at the anual Citrix Synergy conference this week in Los Angeles. Citrix (CTXS) unveiled advancements toward its mobile workstyles vision, providing powerful new ways for people to work whenever, wherever and however they choose. The event conversation can be followed on Twitter hashtag #citrixsynergy. XenMobile Enterprise With Citrix cloud solutions serving as the engine, the company hopes to enable delivering any type of app, to any type of device, over any type of network, while supporting new forms of social collaboration. Launched at the event Wednesday, Citrix announced XenMobile Enterprise, the edition that combines mobile device, app and data management, a unified corporate app store, mobile productivity apps and “one-touch” live support into an inclusive solution for delivering mobile services to business. With a workforce that requires secure and seamless access to apps and data from any mobile device, Citrix is positioning XenMobile Enterprise as the only solution that delivers everything required to mobilize the enterprise. “Customers are continuing to ask for consolidation of enterprise mobility technologies under a single provider,” said Stephen Drake, Program Vice President for Mobility Enterprise at IDC. “The introduction of XenMobile Enterprise with the inclusion of Citrix mobile apps demonstrates that Citrix continues to make strides and is raising its visibility as a key enterprise mobility company through a growing portfolio of technologies.” XenDesktop 7 Citrix also announced the next major release of its XenDesktop desktop virtualization solution. XenDesktop 7 is the first release of project Avalon, an initiative to deliver Windows as a cloud service. XenDesktop 7 offers integrated Windows app and desktop mobility, easier deployment options and simplified management, all delivered through a new, cloud-style architecture. The new version enables any Windows app to function intuitively and transparently on mobile devices, providing a seamless experience on devices of any type. New HDX Mobile technologies incorporate H.264 compression and compression capabilities can dynamically optimize the bit rate of full HD video so it is viewable over 3G mobile networks. New Citrix StoreFront interface unifies and secures app and desktop access through a seamless user experience. An advanced cloud management capabilities provide a purpose-built help desk console and real-time troubleshooting with EdgeSight end-user experience analytics tools. A simplified architecture can deliver Windows Server (RDS) or VDI desktops from a single console, speeding production deployments by as much as 80 percent. Many Citrix partners announced solutions for XenDesktop to help mobilize, simplify and secure virtual Windows app and desktop deployments: Dell announced three end-to-end offerings for Citrix XenDesktop 7, and a Wyse Xenith Pro 2 dual-core zero client, based on the Wyse Zero framework and purpose built for Citrix XenDesktop. CA Technologies (CA) announced new infrastructure management capabilities for XenDesktop 7, providing customers with faster problem resolution and optimized service delivery. NVIDIA (NVDA) announced it is unleashing the full graphics potential of enterprise desktop virtualization with the availability of NVIDIA Grid vGPU integrated into Citrix XenDesktop 7. New Citrix HDX 3D technology enhancements offer unmatched direct GPU acceleration to support the most complex 3D and graphical applications. NetApp demonstrated that a combined architecture with XenDesktop and NetApp Data ONTAP can help customers deploy storage for persistent and non-persistent virtual desktop use cases for as low as $35. (Comment on this)
8:35p	ViaWest to Build In (Figuratively) Hot Minneapolis Market A look at one of the power rooms inside the ViaWest Lone Mountain data center, a Tier IV in Las Vegas. ViaWest will build a similar Tier IV facility in Minneapolis. (Photo: ViaWest) Minnesota has a chilly climate, but the data center industry is warming to its charms. Colocation provider ViaWest is going to build a Tier IV data center in Minneapolis, a market that has been heating up as of late. ViaWest evaluated several key markets before acquiring 28 acres of land, existing buildings and infrastructure in a Minneapolis suburb. The company expects to start construction of its 150,000 square foot facility in time to start accepting customers by the first quarter of 2014. ViaWest said the expansion is a response to a strong appetite for its services. “Demand within our hybrid niche has continued to increase, and we have identified the Minneapolis region as a market in which our local approach to meeting customer needs with tailored solutions will be well-served,” said Nancy Phillips, President and CEO, ViaWest. “Following the ViaWest blueprint, we plan to plant our flag in Minnesota, become a part of the community by hiring local technology talent and elevate business growth throughout the region.” ViaWest built out the first multi-tenant tier IV facility, in Las Vegas. Achieving Tier IV design certification in Minneapolis will look good to the region’s healthcare, financial and government sectors in particular. Lots of Recent Activity in Minneapolis Market There’s been a lot of activity in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs as of late – it’s a key emerging market. Cologix is growing there, purchased the Minnesota Gateway located in the carrier hotel at 511 11th Avenue South. It gave the company 20,000 square feet in the most connected building in Minnesota. The 511 Building is a 270,000 square foot building adjacent to the Metrodome. DataBank acquired VeriSpace back in March, expanding beyond its primary Dallas footprint. Compass Datacenters received a 50% property tax abatement for a planned 89,000 square foot facility in Shakopee, Minn., and Digital Realty Trust acquired a fully leased facility in Eagan, Minn. in April as a sale-leaseback. (Comment on this)
8:40p	Flyover: Apple’s Massive Solar Array for the iDataCenter Apple’s data center in Maiden, North Carolina is the location of the nation’s largest end-user-owned solar photovoltaic array, and the array produces onsite renewable energy to the iDataCenter. This 100-acre, 20-megawatt (MW) facility has an annual production capacity of 42 million kWh of clean, low-carbon, renewable energy. The 1:20-minute video has no sound, but the images provide a dazzling view of the acres of photovoltaics. The solar facility is part of Apple’s approach to environmental responsibility. For additional video, check out our DCK video archive and the Data Center Videos channel on YouTube. (Comment on this)
8:45p	Sentinel, Russo Partner on Bloomberg Data Center The steel framework is already going up for a new data center being built by Russo Development and Sentinel Data Centers. Bloomberg L.P. will be the tenant for the facility in Orangetown, N.Y. (Photo: Russo Development) Sentinel Data Centers and Russo Development will team up on a new data center for Bloomberg L.P. in Orangetown, New York, the companies confirmed today. The Orangetown data center is being developed by a joint venture between Russo and Sentinel, which will retain ownership of the property. Bloomberg L.P. today confirmed that it has signed a lease for the entire 131,805 square foot build-to-suit data center facility in Orangetown. On Wednesday the Rockland County Industrial Development Agency endorsed Orangetown’s resolution to provide the project with a partial tax abatement package. Bloomberg’s lease agreement is conditional upon final authorization by the Rockland county executive. “Bloomberg conducted a long and extensive search to find a location that meets all requirements for our latest data center, and this site in Orangetown checks all the boxes for us,” said Vladimir Kliatchko, Global Head of Research and Development at Bloomberg. “We have partnered with an experienced data center developer in Russo/Sentinel and we are confident they will deliver a first-class facility.” Second Collaboration for Russo, Sentinel The project is the second collaboration between Russo and Sentinel, who worked together on a multi-tenant facility operated by Sentinel in Somerset, N.J. “We are thrilled to be again working with our friends at Russo Development on this fantastic project,” adds Josh Rabina, Co-President of Sentinel Data Centers. “The Bloomberg critical facilities team is truly top notch, and we look forward to delivering them a world class turn-key facility in Orangetown.” The facility, which will consist of a single-story raised floor environment and infrastructure to provide in excess of 7MW of critical capacity, is planned to come online in the middle of 2014. The property was purchased by Russo Development in 2009 and was pad-ready for construction prior to lease signing. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to provide an optimal environment for Bloomberg’s innovative technologies,” said Edward Russo, President and COO of Russo Development. “This site provides ideal access to Manhattan, robust power sources, multiple telecommunication carriers, and opportunities for state and local tax incentives.” The project is big news for Orangetown and Rockland County, and local officials hope it will help attract additional mission-critical facilities to the area. “Bloomberg L.P. looked at over 100 sites in New York and New Jersey before choosing this one,” said Harriet Cornell, Chairwoman of the Rockland County Legislature and board member of the Rockland Economic Development Corporation. “That tells you loud and clear that Orangetown is a prime location for data center development. This is wonderful news for our County and exactly the kind of global firm which is perfect for Orangetown.” (Comment on this)
9:00p	With Ubiquity, Sears is Turning Shuttered Stores into Data Centers Ubiquity Critical Environments, a newly-created unit of Sears Holdings, will convert this Sears retail store in Chicago into data center space. (Photo: Ubiquity) Will blinking blue lights of servers soon fill the aisles that previously offered the Blue Light Special? Sears Holdings has formed a new unit to market space from former Sears and Kmart retail stores as a home for data centers, disaster recovery space and wireless towers. With the creation of Ubiquity Critical Environments, Sears hopes to convert the retail icons of the 20th century into the Internet infrastructure to power the 21st century digital economy. Sears Holdings has one of the largest real estate portfolios in the country, with 3,200 properties spanning 25 million square feet of space. That includes dozens of Sears and Kmart stores that have been closed over the years. “It’s an amazing real estate portfolio,” said Sean Farney, the Chief Operating Officer of Ubiquity. “The goal is not to sell off properties. It’s to reposition the assets of this iconic brand. The big idea is that you have a technology platform laid atop a retail footprint, creating the possibility for a product with a very different look to it.” Farney is an industry veteran who previously managed Microsoft’s huge Chicago data center, and then ran a network of low-latency services for the financial services firm Interactive Data. He sees an opportunity to build three lines of businesses atop the Sears portfolio: data centers, disaster recovery sites and “communications colocation” in which Ubiquity leases rooftop space to wireless providers. Evaluating Properties for Conversion Ubiquity will be able to leverage real estate at both closed stores and some that are still operating, depending on the opportunity. The first step has been to evaluate the portfolio and identify properties that could work as data centers. Chicago engineering firm ESD has been conducting a “data center fitness test” on promising properties to size up their power, fiber and risk profiles. Ubiquity is also working with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank to market the portfolio to the brokerage community. The first Ubiquity project will be a Sears store on the south side of Chicago, nestled alongside the Chicago Skyway. The 127,000 square foot store is closing at the end of June, and will be retrofitted as a multi-tenant data center. Farney says he already has a commitment for the first tenant at the site on East 79th Street, which has 5 megawatts of existing power capacity and the potential to expand. “It’s a building that’s lit very well, from both a fiber and power perspective,” said Farney. “It’s going to be great data center building.” Farney acknowledges that many of Sears’ mall-based retail locations aren’t viable for data center usage. “I don’t think the industry is yet ready for a mall-based data center,” he said. “That may take some time. The stand-alone location is optimal.” Ubiquity has those stand-alone facilities, along with distribution centers and some parcels of vacant land. ”There are closed Kmarts that are stand-alone, 200,000 square-foot properties with good fiber and power and 10 acres of parking,” said Farney. “These are owned assets.” Farney says Ubiquity has flexibility in how it works with tenants. It could finance a buildout and then hand over a wholesale data center to an enterprise or managed hosting provider, or could opt for a powered shell solution for a tenant, depending on the customer needs. Business Continuity, Complete With Starbucks After initially focusing solely on data centers, Ubiquity has expanded its strategy. Although mall-based stores may not be right for data centers, they could be ideal for disaster recovery facilities, Farney said. That includes mall stores that have closed, as well as those that have downsized to a smaller retail footprint. In either scenario, a separate work space could be created with an exterior entrance to restrict access, while still allowing employees to take advantage of nearby stores and eateries. (Comment on this)

<< Previous Day

2013/05/23 [Calendar]

Next Day >>