Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013

Time	Event
12:04p	Microsoft to Build $250 Million Data Center in Finland A Microsoft data center module packed with servers is installed in the company’s facility in Quincy, Washington. Microsoft is building a $250 million data center in Finland. (Photo: Microsoft) Accelerating its global data center expansion, Microsoft will build a $250 million data center in Finland, the company said today. The investment was announced alongside a larger deal in which Microsoft will pay $7 billion to acquire Nokia’s devices business. The data center in Finland continue a massive expansion of Microsoft’s Internet infrastructure to support growth in its Azure cloud services and Xbox Live gaming service. It also reflects Microsoft’s growing focus on its international infrastructure. The company recently said it would construct data centers in Singapore and Australia to boost its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region. Microsoft has been gradually expanding its primary European data center hub in Dublin, Ireland. The announcement is another big win for the booming Nordic data center scene. Google has already built a huge data center in a former paper mill in Hamina, Finland, while Facebook just opened a huge server farm in Lulea, Sweden. Microsoft’s data center news was included in a larger announcement of the Nokia acquisition, which has sparked widespread speculation that Nokia executive Steven Elop is now positioned to succeed Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who just announced plans to retire. Elop worked for Microsoft for many years before taking the helm at Nokia. The investment in Finland could surpass, $250 million, as the announcement said Microsoft would “invest more than a quarter-billion dollars in capital and operation of the new data center over the next few years, with the potential for further expansion over time.” (Comment on this)
12:54p	5 Ways to Maximize Your Server Room ROI Paul Stennett is a Product Specialist at CableOrganizer.com—an industry-leading online retailer of telecom/datacom/networking, electrical, and cable and wire management products. PAUL STENNETT Cableorganizer.com Your server room is not only one of the most important assets of your business; it can also be one of the most expensive. While cutting corners is unacceptable, if you keep an eye on certain aspects of building, maintaining and upgrading your equipment, your costs can be lowered greatly. 1. Stay Cool With all the heat generating devices typically found in a server room, cooling can get pretty expensive. Too bad it’s unavoidable! Cooling is one of the most influential factors in determining the longevity and efficiency of your equipment. Badly cooled equipment heats up very quickly and can go from brand new to completely fried in no time at all. That being said improper cooling will cost you much more than proper cooling in the end. Many technicians have made the dire error of thinking that cooling fans and air conditioning units were the end-all-be-all of cooling. Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the most crucial elements of cooling is actually cable management. In a densely populated cabinet, un-managed cables can create a solid wall that blocks airflow to your equipment, rendering your internal and external cooling systems utterly useless. As a side note, poor cable management also does damage to your connectors and cables, further decreasing service life! Nowadays, there are so many affordable, highly effective, easy to apply network cable management solutions available that there is no good reason not to do it. Always try to balance the heat distribution throughout the server room. For example, don’t have an entire section devoted to servers and a section devoted to patch panels or some other passive type of equipment. Situations like this cause hot spots that overwork your cooling systems in and out of the cabinet. For reasons unknown, dust loves server cabinets. Though it may not seem like a big deal, it doesn’t take long for a dust build-up to clog your cabinet fans and cause your equipment to overheat. Clean your server room thoroughly on a regular basis. If possible, seal the doors and any other openings that might cause air to escape and dust to enter. Always recalculate your cooling needs when adding equipment. 2. Manage Your Power Power isn’t free, so the less you use, the less you pay. Managed PDUs make it easier to take complete control over your power situation. They allow you to monitor, analyze, and allot power at your discretion, and most will allow you to adjust the settings of each outlet individually. This also allows you more freedom to install equipment where it is most convenient and concurrent with your cooling system, rather than having to group devices according to a power plan. To take the savings even further, consider solar power. Solar powering systems tend to be pretty expensive to install, but pay for themselves after a few years. Keep in mind that results vary according to the weather in your area. It should go without saying that this option is a bit more viable in Arizona than it is in Washington. 3. Don’t Buy Equipment Just Because It’s Expensive The data center is one of the most important parts of your business, so no one wants to cheap out. This is understandable, but the focus should be more on performance. In the server business, it seems safe to say that the only companies that consistently produce reliable products will survive. If you can get a one manufacturer’s server that fits your needs, has good reviews, and is affordable, check it out instead of buying the top-of-the-line from the biggest manufacturer. On that note, it’s also important to only buy the amount of equipment you need. As important as it is to be prepared for growth, nothing is more wasteful than having thousands of dollars of equipment lying around becoming more dated by the day only to sold for half its original price should it never be implemented. 4. Think about the Future If you want to be competitive, you have to ensure your equipment is as up to date as possible. You can get an easy head start by keeping an eye out for coming trends. Buy into the next generation of standards and your components and software will see a much longer service life. 5. Sell Your Old Equipment We’ve all seen it. . .The IT department decides to upgrade a piece of equipment, and the old component sits and collects dust, waiting for the day when time travel becomes a reality. While it may not be useful to you, much of this equipment is still relevant enough to fetch a pretty penny from someone on a lower budget. If you are upgrading your equipment, sell the old equipment immediately. All the money saving tips in the world could never be a substitute for keeping your finger on the pulse of your network. Always remember to perform regular maintenance checks and take care of any issues immediately. Otherwise, all other advice is almost useless. 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)
1:30p	HyTrust Raises $18.5 Million To Facilitate Growth Cloud security automation provider HyTrust announced financing in the amount of $18.5 million from new investors Intel Capital and Fortinet, as well as recent investors VMware and In-Q-Tel. The new funding will support the company’s rapid growth and operations, particularly in the areas of sales and marketing, and enable continued development on the cloud security platform as well as innovations in technological areas such as Role-Based Monitoring (RBM). “Next-generation data centers need next-generation security,” said Jeff Byrne, Senior Analyst at Taneja Group. ”As organizations seek to avoid security breaches, meet new requirements (such as the NSA’s two-man rule to restrict access to sensitive information) and address audit and risk, they’ll look toward more effective solutions, including role-based monitoring and alerting capabilities, to more quickly and accurately detect and block threats,” he explained. “The new, dynamic data center will be automated and policy-based. HyTrust’s focus on security and control, combined with growing awareness about these issues, will likely propel the company’s growth in 2013 and beyond.” After a year of rapid growth, this round of a Series C oversubscribed financing will support continued growth of the company’s cloud security platform. The product delivers security, control, visibility, management and compliance to virtualized environments. It is also a scalable multi-tenant solution and capable of independently integrating broadly with other best-in-class virtualization or cloud platforms. “Next-generation data centers will be virtualized, dynamic and multi-tenant,” said Michael Xie, Founder and CTO of Fortinet. ”With that, security and compliance has to be automated and policy-based to enable this software-defined data center model. HyTrust is at the very core of this movement by enabling policy enforcement and visibility for multi-tenant cloud environments. This is a great complement to Fortinet’s leading network security products to enable end-to-end security for virtualized data center environments.” “Averting a data center disaster is top-of-mind for every chief information and security officer, and HyTrust provides complete visibility into what’s happening in cloud environments, with advancements that enable customers to identify and stop breaches before damage is done,” said Eric Chiu, President and Founder of HyTrust. “In the current environment, following widely publicized incidents like the NSA and Shionogi breaches, organizations are far more aware of the dangers of not having real-time visibility into data center operations, or the assurance that policies are automated, applied correctly and enforced. They need to know that potential threats can be contained—it’s the only way to maintain brand reputation, protect revenues and mitigate financial risk.” (Comment on this)
1:39p	Two New Leases for Digital Capital in Chicago The exterior of the Digital Capital data center in Chicago’s South Loop. (Photo: Digital Capital) Digital Capital Partners has signed two new tenants to new leases at its data center at 725 S. Wells in Chicago, the company said today. OSF Health Care and ColocationZone have each signed long-term leases for space at the data center located in Chicago’s South Loop. The new leases bring the facility to 45 percent full. “We’re excited about the Phase 2 expansion of our mission critical facility and have begun construction on four floors of data center and office space,” said Christopher Jensen, Principal and Co-Founder of DCP. ”Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors in the IT business and DCP is well positioned to become one of the premier healthcare-focused data centers. We’re also excited to have ColocationZone as the new manager of the building’s Meet-Me-Room, allowing our wholesale customers access to numerous carriers in our fiber-rich facility.” OSF HealthCare is a network owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, which consists of multiple medical centers around the country throughout Illinois and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. OSF will be adding the 725 S. Wells location as a core location of their overall IT infrastructure.  “We are very excited to work with and join the DCP group,” said James Mormann, Senior Vice President and CIO for OSF Healthcare System. “Having an organization willing to work with the unique needs of healthcare systems to create solutions that deliver more cost effective and secure ways of operations is key. The DCP staff and solution are a great asset to not only the greater Chicago area but to the national landscape.”  ColocationZone, LLC, is a Chicago-based provider that focuses on retail colocation for small to medium-sized businesses. “Many businesses today do not have the space or funds to create the kind of environment that their critical IT infrastructure requires, and that’s where we come in,” said Kate Murawski, Vice President of Sales for ColocationZone. “DCP provided us with custom built data center space that will allow for amazing growth. The facility’s infrastructure and abundant connectivity made DCP an easy decision.” 725 S. Wells Street is an eight-story, 55,000 square foot data center which sits atop one of Chicago’s key fiber loops, with three separate fiber entrances and risers. The building is owned and operated by Digital Capital Partners, LLC, which offers custom solutions ranging from small suites to 3 megawatt spaces, each with a 24-inch raised floor. Here’s a look at one of the data halls: A data hall at 725 S. Wells in Chicago. (Photo: Digital Capital LLC) And here’s a look at some of the building’s cooling and mechanical infrastructure: Mechanical and cooling infrastructure at 725 S. Wells in Chicago (Photo: Digital Capital Partners) (Comment on this)
2:30p	CA DCIM Solution Helps Logicalis Do you think that monitoring doesn’t help bring in value? Think again. The modern business world is becoming so depending on the data center that there must be clear visibility into all of the core underlying resources. This is where Logicalis, an international enterprise service provider of integrated IT solutions and services, came to CA with their challenges. Avoid power interruptions Provide for IT service availability Drive efficiency and optimize costs Minimize staff time spent collecting data and creating reports manually Collect granular energy, environmental, and service data from a complex, dynamic environment Deliver a more cost competitive service through energy efficiency As this white paper outlines - Logicalis has an extensive managed service operations group, which encompasses networking, server infrastructures, storage, unified communications and business applications, including software-as-a-service (SaaS). To help provide that its managed services remain profitable yet affordable, Logicalis must be able to understand its cost base, in particular when it comes to power consumption. Remember, visibility of power consumption is also key for maintaining IT service availability —whether it involves a hosted infrastructure or a private cloud environment. This is where the CA solution really stepped in. The CA DCIM platform plays a critical role in the daily operations of Logicalis’ data centers and cloud environments and helps staff to: Identify possible faults with devices Detect changes in power and temperature changes Minimize power hotspots and overheads Report to customers on their power consumption levels The data is polled, calculated, gathered, and stored both live and historical. This provides a baseline by which Logicalis is able to measure the results of changes. For example, Logicalis is able to track PDU, UPS, CRAH, and generator utilization, status, and more. They are also able to monitor panel and breaker utilization to identify overused and underused circuits. Ultimately, Logicalis was able to create a more robust monitoring platform and achieve new types of benefits as well. Download this white paper today to see how Logicalis was able to: Increase efficiency and availability Offer more compelling services to customers Drive down operational costs  Innovate to help customers achieve goals Achieve 159 percent ROI and 11–month payback 1.43 PUE 93 percent savings in time to produce quarterly reports and manage PUE 5 percent energy savings due to visibility and ability to continuously optimize 5 percent revenue where energy management was key competitive differentiator In deploying an intelligent and powerful DCIM solution, Logicalis has been able to increase efficiency, availability and overall business agility. Because of this robust platform and ROI gains, Logicalis is able to pass savings on to their customers, help differentiate themselves in the marketplace and allow them to out-innovate the competition. (Comment on this)
5:57p	RF Code Tags Now Tracking 2 Million Data Center Assets RF Code says that more than 2 million of its asset tracking RFID tags have been deployed. (Photo: RF Code) The use of RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to keep track of servers and other IT equipment has hit a milestone this week. RF Code, which specializes in RFID application in the data center, reported that it passed two million asset tracking tags sold worldwide. “This is a huge milestone for us,” said Mitch Medford, CEO of RF Code. “The speed at which our asset management solutions are being adopted has increased at an unprecedented rate in 2013 while our environmental sensors are trending to take us to three million tags and sensors in the market in just a few months. After deploying RF Code into their data centers, our largest customer calls us their ‘automated infrastructure platform for managing physical assets’.” RF Code’s RFID tags are attached to servers and racks to provide asset tracking, and can also monitor environmental conditions. The company continues to enjoy deep integration with the data center industry and has been building up relationships with Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM), power and infrastructure vendors in the sector. It also provides solutions to enterprises like GE Healthcare and other supply chain solutions. The asset tracking tags help solve regulatory, financial and resource demands faced by today’s critical IT facilities. RF Code provides a one-platform solution that incorporates power, environmental, security and asset management data. The company also announced a Passive to Active program. The company will offer money back on every passive tag deployed at enterprise companies when they upgrade to an automated, RF Code active RFID solution. “We have received strong endorsements from Gartner, 451 Research and IDC this year and have established relationships with all of the leading DCIM, power and infrastructure vendors in the data center sector,” saidd Richard Jenkins, vice president of marketing and strategic partnerships. “Enterprises are now acting on the potential risk of not having the accurate data we provide and this is reflected in our continual growth.” (Comment on this)
6:31p	Loggly Releases New Cloud Management Platform, Receives $10.5 Million Investment Brought to you by The WHIR. Cloud management service Loggly announced on Tuesday it has released Generation 2 of its cloud-based log management platform, which lets developers and technical operations teams solve problems faster. In a separate announcement, Loggly said it raised $10.5 million in new capital from Cisco and Data Collective Venture Capital, bringing its total venture financing in Loggly to $20.9 million. The company’s incumbent investors include Trinity Ventures, True Ventures and Matrix Partners. Loggly’s business has grown by 500 percent over the last year. The new platform features a new user interface, new analytical tools and a scale-out architecture to accommodate large customer volumes. New capabilities include point-and-click trend graphs from any data, automated event parsing, powerful search and filtering capabilities, a spreadsheet-like grid view option, integrated alerting, customizable dashboards and persistent workspaces that allow users to continue where they left off even if they restart their browser or switch to another device. Perhaps the most significant capability is the simplification of the process of getting logs to Loggly. The company has also launched a new website and added new pricing plans to accommodate a diverse customer base. Loggly targets “cloud-centric organizations.” These include both pure-play Internet companies as well as divisions of large diversified businesses, who conduct their business primarily over the Internet including e-commerce, gaming, social-media, mobile, digital advertising, SaaS and the like. Whether they build their infrastructure “on-premises” or in the cloud, because they do business over the ‘net they eagerly embrace cloud-based services for many of their important needs. By clearly identifying whom it serves, Loggly is able to tune its product offerings to very specific needs. With Loggly Gen2, the company is looking to embark on a new path in log management known as Responsive Log Management, which are built around the principles of simplicity, scalability and stories (“visual representations that provide insights in and of themselves as well as provide fine-pitch guidance as to where to focus further investigative effort”). The SaaS offering provides customers with the reliability of an always-on redundant platform and rapid functional advancement, and ensures that hey do not have to manage large analysis clusters or maintain software updates. “Our new generation represents an entirely unique approach to log management,” said Jim Nisbet, VP of engineering and CTO at Loggly. “Cloud-centric organizations are demanding a rock-solid architecture so they always have real-time access to critical truths in the logs, regardless of their location or origin.” In December 2011, Loggly participated in Rackspace’s Small Teams Big Impact streaming speaker series. Original article published at: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/loggly-releases-new-cloud-management-platform-receives-10-5-investment (Comment on this)
9:01p	Digital Realty Enters Japan Market With Osaka Project There are few IT markets where Digital Realty doesn’t have a data center. You can now cross Japan off that short list, as the developer said Tuesday that it plans to enter the Japanese market with a facility in Osaka. Digital Realty said it has paid $10.5 million to acquire a 15,000 square meter site in Osaka, where it will build a data center. “Our customers continue to demand enterprise-quality data centres on a global scale,” said Michael F. Foust, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty. “The acquisition of our first site in Japan enables us to expand our world-class data centre platform to meet the growing domestic and global demand for critical IT facilities in Osaka.” The deal highlights the opportunity that data center operators see in Osaka, which is Japan’s second-largest city after Tokyo. Colocation market leader Equinix recently announced plans to open a data center in Osaka later this year. Digital’s facility will come online in the fourth quarter of 2014. Located less than 20 kilometres from Osaka’s central business district, the facility will feature a power architecture that can deliver 4.0 megawatts of IT capacity. “Entering the Osaka market represents an important milestone in our growth strategy for the region as we continue to build a truly global data centre platform,” said Kris Kumar, Senior Vice President and Regional Head, Asia Pacific, for Digital Realty. “We are pleased to now be able to offer our customers data centre solutions in Osaka, as well as the other 32 markets in which Digital Realty has a presence today.” A recent study of data center trends at 100 large corporations in Japan completed by Digital Realty revealed that 56 percent of the respondents plan to expand their data centers in 2014. Internet traffic in Osaka grew at an anual rate of 68 percent from 2008 to 2012. Digital Realty Trust (DLR) is a real estate investment trust that is the world’s largest provider of data center space, with 127 properties comprising approximately 23.7 million square feet in 32 markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. (Comment on this)

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